Both the NAPO, the union for Probation and Family Court staff and the national media have recently highlighted delays in dealing with prisoners who have been recalled to prison and require their cases to be reviewed.
The Prison Law Department at Robert Lizar’s is concerned at these recent cases which breach prisoners' Human Rights.
We have noticed a significant increase in the delay for prisoners. We first noticed this disturbing trend in December 2011. We are concerned that this failure to deal with cases within the prescribed time limit of 28 days breaches Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights [ECHR], the Right to Liberty and Article 6 ECHR, regarding Access to Justice.
In keeping with our robust and proactive defence of our clients rights we have recently made strong representations for two clients which resulted in our clients being successfully released.
Robert Lizars will continue to monitor the delays and where recalled prisoners are denied a hearing within the statutory timescale, we will hold the prison authorities to account. In keeping with our proactive approach to ensure our clients Human Rights are upheld we will place any breaches before the Court seeking a speedy resolution .
