‘Court backlogs are forcing alleged offenders to spend up to five years in jail awaiting trial and driving innocent people to plead guilty, two prison watchdogs have revealed.’
The Guardian, 9th December 2024
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘The Ministry of Justice has blamed a data error after it published figures showing that 150 suspects had been trapped in jail for more than five years while awaiting trial.’
The Independent, 14th November 2023
Source: www.independent.co.uk
‘Magistrates are regularly not following the law when jailing people awaiting trial, according to a report being published by legal thinktank Justice today.’
Law Society's Gazette, 9th November 2023
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
‘Magistrates are not following the law when sending thousands of people to jail on remand, exacerbating the prison overcrowding crisis in England, a report suggests.’
The Guardian, 9th November 2023
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘The last two years has brought a myriad of changes to the proportion of a custodial sentence that offenders will actually have to serve. Many factors are beyond the control of judges or counsel, and many of the changes have been made without fanfare. Some of the changes are welcome news. The fact that time on remand for youths sentenced to Detention and Training Orders (“DTO’s”) now actually counts towards the detention period seems like a long overdue victory for fairness and common sense. Others have inevitably contributed to the escalating prison population. Alexandra Scott gives an overview of the regime as currently stands.’
Mountford Chambers, 8th September 2023
Source: www.mountfordchambers.com
‘Potentially dangerous prisoners are spending years on remand before disappearing into the community after their release without being properly monitored, the prisons watchdog has warned.’
The Guardian, 25th January 2023
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘On 6 September a Private Members’ Bill calling for fairer appeal processes passed its first reading in the House of Commons. The Criminal Appeal (Amendment) Bill or ‘Joint Enterprise’ Bill, calls for a fairer appeals process for those who remain detained on remand and convicted by joint enterprise will now progress to a second reading later this year. The landmark Bill will help those detained by joint enterprise to invoke their right to a fair trial, which is enshrined in the Human Rights Act (HRA).’
Each Other, 7th September 2022
Source: eachother.org.uk
‘The government has been urged to tackle “cruel and unjust” waits for defendants in England and Wales to stand trial after figures showed a 15% yearly rise in the number of people being held for longer than the custody time limit of six months.’
The Guardian, 23rd February 2022
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘More than 3,600 people – almost a third of England’s remand prison population – have been held beyond the legal time limit awaiting trials as the pandemic wreaks havoc on the legal process.’
The Guardian, 17th March 2021
Source: www.theguardian.com
Galiazia v Governor of HMP Hewell and others [2014] EWHC 3427 (Admin); [2014] WLR (D) 509
‘Section 240ZA(3) of the Criminal Justice Act 2003, as inserted, allowed time on remand to be counted only against time spent in custody and it could not be credited to reduce time spent on licence.’
WLR Daily, 23rd November 2014
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
‘Up to £230m has been spent “needlessly” holding people on remand in custody who eventually avoided jail, a penal reform charity has said. More than 35,000 people kept on remand in 2013 went on to be either acquitted or be given non-custodial sentences, according to new figures obtained by the Howard League for Penal Reform from the Ministry of Justice through a Freedom of Information request.’
The Guardian, 18th August 2014
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“When sentencing a defendant to a term of imprisonment, section 240(3) of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 provided that the court must direct that, subject to section 240(4), time served in custody on remand should count as time served by him as part of the sentence. Section 240(4)(a) provided that section 240(3) did not apply if while on remand the defendant was a serving prisoner, but there was no separate order under section 240(4). That subsection merely restricted the discretion of the court; the only order a court could make was one under section 240(3).”
WLR Daily, 12th November 2013
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
The High Court has dismissed an ‘absolutely meritless’ claim by a prisoner that, in serving the non-tariff part of his sentence, he should be afforded all the Convention rights enjoyed by prisoners on remand or those serving time for civil offences such as contempt of court. As he had been deprived of the full panoply of rights, he said, he was a victim of discrimination contrary to Article 14.
UK Human Rights Blog, 14th October 2013
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
“Greece, Bulgaria, Poland and Romania are the worst European Union countries at delivering justice through criminal trials, according to an independent survey of the union’s courts.”
The Guardian, 10th October 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Related link: Human rights violations in Europe, broken down by country, article violated and judgment
“It may be written by the chief inspector of prisons, but don’t be fooled – this report is about social justice not crime.”
The Guardian, 2nd August 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“Many remand prisoners had a poorer regime and less support than sentenced prisoners, said Nick Hardwick, Chief Inspector of Prisons, publishing a short thematic review.”
HM Inspectorate of Prisons, 2nd August 2012
Source: www.justice.gov.uk
“Tens of thousands of remand prisoners who are yet to be convicted are treated far worse in jails in England and Wales than sentenced prisoners, according to an official watchdog report.”
The Guardian, 2nd August 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
O’Connell v Judicial Authority of Santa Cruz de Tenerife [2010] WLR (D) 26
“It was unjust or oppressive by reason of the passage of time, within the meaning of s 14 of the Extradition Act 2003, to order pursuant to a European arrest warrant the extradition of a person to serve the balance of a sentence of imprisonment after his sentence had twice been extended on appeal, rendering him unlawfully at large, where the requesting authority had without good reason delayed issuing the warrant for a significant period of time.”
WLR Daily, 21st October 2010
Source: www.lawreports.co.uk
Please note once a case has been fully reported in one of the ICLR series the corresponding WLR Daily summary is removed.
“An estimated 1,000 children are imprisoned on remand every year but later found innocent at trial, despite guidance which states that children should only be jailed in exceptional circumstances.”
The Guardian, 17th June 2009
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
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