Renaissance in prison law

Renaissance in prison law

Lifer Ben Gunn is convinced that the number of ‘jailhouselawyers’ needs to be increased and suitably equipped with the proper tools

The prison system is an animal in a state of perpetual change. Whilst our political masters seem to have the decisive say in that change, we should always remember that
prisoners have played a large part in creating the system as it is today.

One of the ways in which we have, collectively and individually, forced change is
through the use of the Rules and the law. For whilst management may use the word ‘jailhouselawyer’ as a term of abuse, they do so because jailhouselawyers can make their life more difficult whenever some inconvenient piece of law gets in their way of screwing over some prisoner.

We live in good times as far as these things go. It was only about fifteen years ago that we finally got access to all the rules and regulations that are used to govern the minutiae of our daily lives. Before then, governors could happily look you in the eye and quote some secret Circular Instruction to justify the latest dumb decision.

Now, if the urge strikes us, we can phone the Prisoners’ Advice Service or wander to
the library to check the actual regulation. If nothing else, this has hindered governors in their perpetual challenge of lying through their teeth from morning till night.

After decades of neglect, the courts now actually take an interest in prison matters.
Previously they had a nasty habit of letting the Minister do pretty much what he wanted, and governors to railroad us. But in a series of landmark cases over thirty years, desperate rules which restricted our ability to reach out to lawyers and judges were worn away. Somewhere along the line, judges began to get a backbone and tell the Ministry to stop buggering about and pointed out that the law doesn’t stop at prison gates; an obvious point perhaps, but one that everybody conveniently
forgot for a century or two.

So, now we have access to the regulations, access to lawyers and access to the courts. We can add to that the legal opportunities that come with the Human Rights Act (and the Daily Mail can go screw themselves). This all has an awful lot of potential for picking a fight with our masters. At the very least, it should
help us to blunt the worst stupidities inflicted upon us.

The scope for jailhouselawyers is probably greater than it has ever been in British prison history. We may even end up as competent as the Americans in this respect. Their jailhouselawyers seem to be way ahead of the game, probably due to two important factors. Firstly, American prisoners became radicalised and politicised during the counter-culture days of the 1960s and 70s. With the Muslim Brotherhood and Black Panther Party there was an influx of informed, able and willing prisoners who were organised and focused on asserting themselves. Britain has never had this sort of prisoner movement. Secondly, American prisoners have access to law libraries. This is something that the prison service has deliberately neglected over here, leaving us scrabbling around for bits of case law and rules on civil procedure. Despite the legal doctrine of ‘equality of arms’, most of us walk into an Adjudication having barely glimpsed the Discipline Manual let alone mastered it, and we face a governor who has been specifically trained in Adjudications law and who has a direct phone line to PSHQ for more help.

This lack of politicization and will to resist, coupled with shelves empty of information, has hindered the efforts of jailhouselawyers in British prisons. Yet it needn’t be that way.

It could be possible to increase the number of jailhouselawyers very quickly. Each one has to be equipped with only the basic tools, including the Prison Rules; Discipline Manual; Index to PSOs and PSIs; Staff Professional Standards; PLRG Bulletin; PAS number and address; Lots of COMP1 and the address of the nearest County Court. As a starter kit, that should allow most prisoners to resist abuses
with a knowledge and vigour that would depress any governor. Just forcing them to do
Adjudications properly would strain their brain and test their patience. Goody.

At present there are disparate, isolated individuals beavering away in odd corners of
the system, doing the jailhouselawyer bit for waifs and strays who darken their doorway. This is work well worth doing (and is vastly under appreciated).

Their efforts could be given a massive boost in effectiveness if there were a network to connect these people, a channel to share advice, cases and learn from each other. I’ll resist suggesting it be called an Association of Jailhouselawyers.

Given the nasty habits of prisons in disrupting inter-prison mail, this network would really benefit from being supported from the outside. Some group could act as a post-box, a collator of information which they could then re-distribute around the system’s jailhouselawyers.

Let us not underestimate the opportunities for change in such an effort. If every prison had just one informed prisoner able to act as a McKenzie Friend on Adjudications; one person who knew the BPS Code of Ethics; one man who could quote chapter and verse from a hundred PSOs; then prisoners would find themselves in a position to cut years off their time and be able to live a life where they suffer
far less harassment. And this is not to detail the many highly significant legal challenges that could be made, on everything from parole delays to erroneous probation reports, slave labour to shoddy risk assessments … it’s limited by our determination and imagination.

Are there 100 prisoners amongst the 90,000 of us in the UK prison system prepared to play this role? Is there just one prisoner in each nick willing to step up and play a part in changing the system?

And is there a reform or campaign group out there willing to sponsor a resurgence in jailhouselawyers and support a renaissance in prison law?

(First published in Inside Time, February issue)