Category Archives: Prison Law

Wrongly imprisoned and the scandal of no compensation Recently the Supreme Court ruled that those whom have had their convictions quashed are not entitled to compensation for having lost years of their lives having been wrongly imprisoned. The Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Police Act 2014 provided a compensation scheme for those wrongly imprisoned. Any individual…

Drill music In December two drill artists performed their song Attempted 1.0 at a gig, as a result of this they breached a court injunction and received a 9 month suspended sentence. Drill is a form of rap that has found a home in South London. The authorities link drill to violence and particularly gang…

Progressing Prisoners Maintaining Innocence Annual Lecture: 10th December 2018 at the House of Commons On Monday 10th December, I attended the House of Commons at the Progressing Prisoners Maintaining Innocence (PPMI) Annual Lecture, ‘Is the Parole Process Fit for Purpose? Releasing Safe Individuals Promptly.’ This event was attended by guest speakers, Dean Kingham, Head of…

Pepper Spray for Prison Officers Yasmin Karabasic, of our prison and public law team, with a keen passion in Human Rights and Justice has reviewed the recent announcement that prison officers will be given PAVA aka pepper spray. This synthetic pepper spray temporality incapacitates those who it is sprayed upon. In October this year, the…

Dean Kingham, Head of Prison and Public Law at Swain & Co Solicitors was invited by the BBC to take part in the discussion. He cannot as a result of a Parole Board hearing, but he had this to say: "The Independence of the Parole Board needs to be maintained. Lord Mostyn recently in the…

Permission granted by High Court in respect of the Independence of the Parole Board challenge Last month we informed you all that we were bringing a challenge against the Secretary of State for Justice for effectively interfering with the Board and not having an independent Parole Board to satisfy Article 5 (4). The claim followed…

Our clients are the centre of what we do. We try to help as much as possible. It is why we act purely for individuals. It’s an important choice and statement of Swain & Co Solicitors. It means we can give each client the time and attention they need. We care about you and what…

Dean Kingham provides his insight on the Riots at the Mount. He says the Government MUST act to stop a Humanitarian Prison Crisis. "The Government are failing the public in respect of prisons. Not a week goes by without a damning report from the Prison Inspectorate or IMB being released. Currently, almost daily we are…

Over the years accredited offending behaviour programmes have been seen as the holy grail of risk reduction. Whether a prisoner has completed an accredited programme has been seen as central to whether risk has reduced. Arguments to parole panels that accredited offending behaviour programmes are not necessary for release/progression have regularly fallen on deaf ears.…