Enforcing Prisoners’ Rights
| Date | 01 September 2002 |
| DOI | 10.1177/026455050204900307 |
| Published date | 01 September 2002 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Enforcing Prisoners’
Rights
Daniel Machover draws on his experience of representing prisoners
who have complained of abuse from within the Prison System, to
consider the degree to which they can be said to have access to justice.
He also discusses the dangers, to prisons and to individual prisoners,
of restricting their ability to complain.
All of us face genuine practical citizens or by the state) or the right to
problems in enforcing our rights,
freedom of expression. Indeed, it may
whether as citizens against the state, for
only be once someone is in police or
example in demanding ‘respect for the
prison custody for the first time that they
home’ in the face of a proposed new
appreciate the extent to which those not in
runway at a nearby airport, or against each
custody take certain rights for granted,
other as private citizens in, say, child
most obviously the right to liberty and
custody disputes. Common problems are:
freedom from arbitrary arrest or detention
finding out the law and the limits of
by state agents. In theory, convicted
your rights; finding a lawyer; affording a
prisoners should not lose anything other
lawyer; and pursuing your case through
than their liberty for the period prescribed
the stress of litigation. Some of these
by the sentencing judge. As Lord
problems can be overcome more easily
Wilberforce put it in Raymond v Honey
when a group is affected: collaborating
[1983] AC 1 at 10H, “a convicted prisoner,
with others is often more effective in
in spite of his imprisonment, retains all
vindicating a group right (as in the runway
civil rights which are not taken away
example).
expressly or by necessary implication”.
Prisoners face practical problems of a
However, the fact of imprisonment not only
different order of magnitude to those at
seriously erodes many rights, it makes it
large in society in enforcing their rights.
very difficult to practically enforce the
First, prisoners are entirely at the mercy of
truncated rights enjoyed by prisoners. What
the state as regards the whole range of
is often overlooked is that the failure to
rights, from the right to life, to the right to
minimise these practical difficulties breeds
privacy (involving interference by other
abuse of power.
233
What Are Prisoners’ Rights?
courts (P and Q-v-Secretary of State for the
Despite the dictum of Lord Wilberforce,
Home Department), the Prison Service had
prisoners can have genuine...
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