Prisoners' Rights

"The firm's success and excellent reputation is seen as partly due to the immensely impressive way it organises itself and runs its cases...the team is responsible for much of the ground breaking work of the past ten years"
Chambers & Partners 2009

How we work

We assist prisoners to resolve their difficulties with the authorities in the quickest and most effective manner possible.

We endeavour to resolve the problem through correspondence with the prison and by using the complaint and Ombudsman schemes. If these approaches do not resolve the matter, we are skilled in identifying and bringing challenges through the courts.

Legal Proceedings

Court proceedings on behalf of prisoners - to protect their rights and to ensure procedural fairness - are usually by way of judicial review. In cases where judicial review is unsuccessful or inappropriate, we will advise concerning pursuing the matter to the European Court of Human Rights.

Making progress in this area of law can be a slow process, with the courts moving towards fairer procedures very gradually. Our clients demonstrate immense dedication and commitment, often pursuing cases where they may no longer obtain any direct benefit to improve the treatment for all prisoners.

Our Policy Work

We are involved in developing policy from funding issues to new legislation. We have provided consultation responses on a wide range of issues affecting prisoners including the legal aid scheme and the appropriate levels of punishment for those convicted of murder.

Legal Education

Articles which have been written by Simon Creighton and Hamish Arnott for the Legal Action magazine prior to 2005 are shown below:

Life Sentences (June 2004)
Life Sentences (Jan 2004)
Parole & Lifers (June 2003)
Parole & Lifers (Jan 2003)
Revocation of Licence of Life Sentence Prisoner (July 2002)
Deaths in Prison (June 2002)
Parole & Lifers (Jan 2002)
Legislative Changes (June 2001)
Parole & Lifers (Feb 2001)