Module 1
- Transcript of Module 10 Preliminary Hearing on 18 February 2025
- Statement by Lead Counsel to the Inquiry for Module 10
- Submissions on Behalf of Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK by Ms Stone
- Submissions on Behalf of Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice Northern Ireland by Ms McDermott
- Submissions on Behalf of Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice Cymru by Mr Stanton
- Submissions on Behalf of Scottish Covid Bereaved by Dr Mitchell KC
- Submissions on Behalf of Clinically Vulnerable Families by Mr Wagner
- Submissions on Behalf of Disabled People’s Organisations by Ms Beattie
- Submissions on Behalf of the Domestic Abuse Group by Ms Davies KC
- Submissions on Behalf of Shelter by Mr Westgate KC
- Submissions on Behalf of Justice Sector Coalition by Ms Munroe
- Submissions on Behalf of Prison and Immigration Detention Advocacy Group by Mr O’ceallaigh KC Mr O’ceallaigh: I’m Very Grateful. I Appear for the Prison and Immigration Detention Advisory Group Alongside Paul Clark, Instructed by Joseph Latimer of the Public Interest Law Centre. It Is A Long-established Legal Principle That Those Incarcerated At the Hands of the State Are In A Singularly Vulnerable Position and That, As A Result, the State Has A Duty to Protect Them. This Module Will Be the First to Consider the Respects In Which During the Covid-19 Pandemic the British State Either Met That Duty Or Failed to Meet It. As A Body Composed of Leading National Charities Representing the Interests of Those Detained Both In the Criminal Justice System and Pursuant to Immigration Detention Powers, the Prison and Immigration Detention Advisory Group, Or Pidag, Is Very Grateful to Have Been Designated A Core Participant In This Module. In These Short Submissions, I Propose to Address the Charities Briefly, and I Want to Say A Little About Decision Making, Roundtable Events, the Systematic Evidence Review, and Then Some Matters Arising From What the Other Cps Have Said This Morning. We Commend Our Written Submissions to My Lady, and We Don’t Propose to Repeat Them. Pidag Would Particularly Like to Emphasise the List of Potentially Important Issues That We Set Out At Paragraph 14 of That Document. by Way of Very Short Introduction, Pidag Is Composed of Four Charities. First, the Howard League for Penal Reform Is the World’s Oldest Prison Charity. It Engages In A Broad Range of Activities Which Encompass Direct Contact With Persons Who Are Detained In Prison, Including Those Who Are Especially Vulnerable In That Category, Such As Children, and Policy and Campaigning Work. During the Pandemic, the Howard League Provided Support to Prisoners, In Particular Children and Young People, As the Charity Runs the Only Dedicated Legal Advice Line for Children and Young People In Custody Aged 21 and Under In England and Wales. Bail for Immigration Detainees, Or Bid, Is A Charity Devoted to Securing Access to Justice for People In Immigration Detention. Bid Supports Thousands of Detainees Annually by Providing Representation In Bail Applications All Across the UK, As Well As Free Legal Advice, Both In Person and by Telephone. Bid Is One of Only A Handful of Organisations That Works Across the Country and Across the Entirety of the Detention Estate. Bid Also Conducts Field Research and Uses Case Sample Analyses of Its Casework As the Basis for Extensive Publications and Gives Evidence to Government and International Human Rights Bodies. the Prison Reform Trust Is A Charity That Conducts Extensive Research Into the Workings of the Prison System In Order to Inform Prisoners, Prison Staff and the Wider Public and to Encourage Public Debate on Prison Conditions and the Treatment of Prisoners. It Also Provides Advice and Assistance to Prisoners and Their Families In the Form of Written Guides and A Telephone Advice Line. Prt Publishes Extensively, Including Both Detailed Research Reports on the Penal System and Short, Focussed Briefings. Importantly, During the Pandemic, Prt Initiated the Urgent Covid-19 Action Prison Project: Tracking Innovation, Valuing Experience, Or Capptive, Through Its Prisoner Policy Network, Which Described and Recorded Life In Prison During the Pandemic In Prisoners’ Own Voices Following Hundreds of Responses. Medical Justice Is A Charity That Works to Uphold the Health and Associated Legal Rights of People In Immigration Detention. Working With Clinicians and Interpreters, Mj Facilitates the Provision of Independent Medical Advice and Assessment of Those Detained Under Immigration Powers, As Well As Conducting Research Into Issues Affecting People In Immigration Detention, and Producing Detailed Reports. Mj Handles Between 500 and 1,000 Cases A Year and Continued Its Work During the Pandemic. the Pandemic Was A Frightening Time for All, But There’s A Particular Terror That Comes From Facing the Disaster Through A Locked Door. Some Prisoners Were Kept In Their Cells for 23 and A Half Hours A Day, People Were Held for Longer Than Necessary and In Worse Conditions. Whilst Many of the Dangers That Apply to Society At Large Were Applicable In Prison, There Were Additional Dangers Faced by Prisoners and Immigration Detainees That Simply Did Not Apply to the General Population. People Died, for Example, Because of the Limitations Placed on the Assessment, Care and Custody and Teamwork System Because of Changes to the Prison Regime and for Other Reasons Which Were Specific to Detention As A Context. Many of These Reasons Persisted Long After the Pandemic Was Over. That Is A Long Tail of Covid-19. We’re Very Grateful to Ms Blackwell King’s Counsel’s Indication That There Is Room for Considering the Ongoing Impact of the Pandemic. the Pidag Charities Hope to Assist the Inquiry In Examining the Particular Consequences of the Pandemic on the Especially Vulnerable Cohorts They Try to Speak for, Including the Ongoing Consequences, and That Long Shadow. In Respect of Decision Making, We Fully Accept and Understand What Ms Blackwell KC Had to Say About the Fact That There Has Already Been A Separate Module on Decision Making, But As Far As We’re Aware, Module 2 Did Not Consider What Happened Behind the Locked Doors of Detention Centres In Prisons. to Understand What Happened In Those Dark Places, There Will Have to Be Some Consideration of, for Example, First, the Policy Choice Not to Have A Proper Early-release System; Second, the Policy Choice to Continue to Use Immigration Detention With No Time Limit As A Tool At A Time When Removals, the Supposed Purpose of Such Detention, Was Literally Impossible. Pidag Is Anxious That the Careful Delineation of Issues Necessary In Such A Broad Inquiry As This Is Not At the Expense of Allowing It to Understand Where Impacts and Harms Arose Directly From Deliberate Policy Decisions. Without That Analysis, It Will Not Be Possible for the Inquiry to Make the Recommendations That Will Lead to Better Outcomes In Any Future Pandemic. on Roundtable Events, I’d Like to Briefly Address the Proposals We’ve Had. I Set Out In Our Submissions Pidag Very Much Welcomes the Concept of the Roundtable Events. However, It Remains Our Position That the Category of Prisons and Other Places of Detention and Those Affected by the Operation of the Justice System Is Just Too Broadly Drawn. Pidag Is Very Anxious That Both of Those Topics Are Examined Fully and, In Our View, That Is Likely to Mean Separate Roundtables. In Our Written Submissions, We Flag Three Reasons for Adopting That Position: First, Those Imprisoned by the State Are In A Position That’s Uniquely Separate From the Rest of Society. Their Experiences During the Pandemic Were Vastly Different From Those of People Who Had Their Liberty. In Circumstances Where This Is the Module to Fully Examine Those Experiences, There Is Considerable Value In Having A Roundtable Dedicated to Them. Second, While Those Who Were In Detention During the Pandemic Will Inevitably Have Experienced the Justice System In One Form Or Another, There Will Be Many Detainees and Prisoners for Whom the Experience of the Justice System Itself Wasn’t Critical to Their Experience of the Pandemic, for Example Because It Predated March 2020. Third, the Justice System Itself Is A Very Broad Topic That Merits Its Own Roundtable and Will Require Consideration of Those Issues Outside the Scope Or the Experience of Most Prisoners Or Detainees, As You’ve Heard Very Eloquently From Ms Munroe, King’s Counsel. There Is A Real Issue, In Our Submission, That If Those Issues Are Addressed At A Roundtable Together With Issues Facing Detainees and Prisoners, Neither Set of Issues Is Examined Adequately. to Those Reasons We Would Add A Fourth: the Key Purpose of This Inquiry Is to Learn Lessons for the Next One. Prisoners and Immigration Detainees Are A Group That Will by Definition Be Affected Differently and, Almost Certainly, More Severely Than the General Public In Any Future Pandemic. It Is Important That the Analysis of the Failings and Successes of the Pandemic In This Important Metric Is Not Swamped by the Many Complex Issues Caused by the Pandemic In Respect of the Justice System More Generally. In That Context We Endorse the Comments of the Justice Sector Coalition In Paragraph 12 of Their Helpful Submissions. We Have Had A Useful Conversation With Ms Blackwell KC, to Which Ms Munroe Has Already Referred, This Morning, and Her Team, and We Appreciate Them Taking the Time to Speak to Us. We Also Appreciate, If I May Say, the Collegiate Approach Suggested by That Discussion and by Her Submissions This Morning. We’ve Been Given to Understand That There Will Be Proper Moderation and Separate Breakout Rooms Now At These Roundtables, Which May Facilitate At Least Some Detailed Examination of the Issues Affecting Immigration Detainees and Prisoners, Ms Blackwell KC Helpfully Indicated That Further Details of the Roundtables Will Be Provided, That Detail Will Be Essential. Pidag Sees the Roundtables As An Enormous Opportunity for Really Effective Evidence Gathering and Is Anxious That the Opportunity Is Taken. We Would Welcome the Opportunity to Have Input Into the Structures of Those Roundtables. If, Contrary to Our Submissions, My Lady Takes the View That It Is Not Appropriate to Have Separate Roundtables for the Justice System and for Those Incarcerated, We Would Ask That the Inquiry Keep Under Review the Possibility of Having Further Roundtables If the Experience of Conducting Them Shows That This Is Required. In Respect of the Systematic Evidence Review, I’d Like to Deal Shortly With That. Again, Pidag Is Very Supportive of This Approach, Which Will Hopefully Provide the Inquiry With An Extremely Useful Evidence Base. the Charities Wish, However, to Flesh Out Three Short Points Flagged by Ms Blackwell KC Earlier on. First, the Specific Context of Incarceration Means That It Is Vital That Both Prisoners and People In Immigration Detention Are Among the Demographic Groups That Are Identified for Consideration. As I’ve Already Noted, It Is Highly Likely to Be of Use In Planning for and Responding to Any Future Pandemic. Second, the Work of Each of Pidag’s Constituent Organisations, Who Have Done A Vast Amount of Work on This, Should Be Part of A Systematic Review of Any Available Reach. Third, Pidag Considers That It Will Be Particularly Important to Consider the Position of Those Incarcerated and Those Subject to Extreme Limitations on the Ability to Exercise When Assessing the Impact of the Pandemic on Physical Activity, As Well As Access to Support Services. In Respect of the Comments Made by Some of the Other Core Participants, We’ve Had An Opportunity to Consider Them Now. We Wish to Adopt the Following Submissions: First, the Submissions From the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK and Northern Ireland Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice At Paragraph 17, That Roundtable Events Should Be Organised With Advice From An Expert, Such As A Bereavement Counsellor, Or Psychologist, and Approached In A Trauma-focused Way Which Facilitates Participation and Creates An Atmosphere In Which the Bereaved Feel Heard. Second, the Submission of the Disabled People’s Organisations In Paragraph 3.6, That the Inquiry Must Examine the Position of Disabled People In Prison, to Which We Would Add That It Must Also Consider the Position of Disabled People Who Are In Immigration Detention. Third, We Endorse the Query Raised by Mind Paragraph 16, the Tuc At Paragraph 18 and Shelter and the Da Group Today In Respect of the Question of Whether Three Weeks Will Be Sufficient Time to Hear Important Evidence. This Is A Concern Raised In Our Own Submissions and One That Will Apply With Greater Force If the Roundtables Don’t Turn Out to Be As Effective As Hoped. Finally, We Endorse the Request That the Da Group At Paragraph 14 for Confirmation That the List of Potential Invitees Supplied by Core Participants for Roundtable Events Will Be Considered. In Conclusion, My Lady, and to Recall Something Said by Ms Munroe KC Earlier, It Was the American Author, Pearl Buck, Who Wrote That the Test of A Civilisation Is the Way That It Cares for Its Helpless Members. Those Incarcerated by the State Are, Particularly During A National Emergency Like A Pandemic, Among Its Most Helpless, Most Powerless, Most Vulnerable Members. Pidag Looks Forward to Assisting the Inquiry As Much As It Can In Its Task of Determining Whether the United Kingdom Passed That Test During the Pandemic and Setting Out Ways of Ensuring That In Any Future Pandemic It Does Better. Those Are Our Submissions.
- Submissions on Behalf of Migrants’ Rights Consortium by Ms Moffatt
- Submissions on Behalf of Trades Union Congress by Ms Peacock
- 19 July 2023
- Submissions on Behalf of the British Medical Association by Mr Stanton
- Submissions on Behalf of the Trades Union Congress by Mr Jacobs
- Submissions on Behalf of the Local Government Association and Welsh Local Government Association by Mr Allen KC
- Submissions on Behalf of the Government Office for Science by Mr Hill
- Submissions on Behalf of His Majesty’s Treasury by Mr Block KC
- Submissions on Behalf of the Department of Health Northern Ireland by Ms Murnaghan KC
- Submissions on Behalf of the Cabinet Office by Ms Studd KC
- 18 July 2023
- Mr Matt Fowler
- Mrs Jane Morrison
- Ms Anna-Louise Marsh-Rees
- Ms Brenda Doherty
- Submissions on Behalf of Covid Bereaved Families for Justice by Mr Weatherby KC
- Submissions on Behalf of the Northern Ireland Covid Bereaved Families for Justice by Mr Lavery KC
- Submissions on Behalf of Covid Bereaved Families for Justice Cymru by Ms Heaven
- Submissions on Behalf of Scottish Covid Bereaved by Ms Mitchell KC
- Submissions on Behalf of the Association of Directors of Public Health by Mr Ford KC
- 17 July 2023
- 13 July 2023
- 12 July 2023
- 11 July 2023
- 10 July 2023
- 6 July 2023
- 5 July 2023
- 4 July 2023
- 3 July 2023
- 29 June 2023
- 28 June 2023
- 27 June 2023
- 26 June 2023
- 22 June 2023
- 21 June 2023
- 20 June 2023
- 19 June 2023
- 16 June 2023
- 15 June 2023
- 14 June 2023
- Submissions on Behalf of Public Health Scotland by Mr Bowie KC
- Submissions on Behalf of the Government Office for Science by Mr Hill
- Submissions on Behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care by Ms Scolding KC
- Submissions on Behalf of the Welsh Government by Mr Kinnier KC
- Submissions on Behalf of the Scottish Government by Mr Mitchell KC
- Submissions on Behalf of the Executive Office Northern Ireland by Mr Sharpe KC
- Submissions on Behalf of the Cabinet Office by Mr Strachan KC
- Professor Jimmy Whitworth and Dr Charlotte Hammer
- 13 June 2023
- Opening Remarks by the Chair
- Statement by Lead Counsel to the Inquiry
- Submissions on Behalf of Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice by Mr Weatherby KC
- Submissions on Behalf of the Northern Ireland Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice by Mr Lavery KC
- Submissions on Behalf of Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice Cymru by Ms Heaven
- Submissions on Behalf of Scottish Covid Bereaved by Dr Mitchell KC
- Submissions on Behalf of the British Medical Association by Mr Stanton
- Submissions on Behalf of the Trades Union Congress by Mr Jacobs
- Submissions on Behalf of the Northern Ireland Department of Health by Ms Murnaghan KC
- Submissions on Behalf of the Association of Directors of Public Health by Mr Ford KC
- Submissions on Behalf of the Local Government Association and Welsh Local Government Association by Mr Allen KC
- Transcript of the Third Module 1 Preliminary Hearing, 25 April 2023
- Statement by Lead Counsel to the Inquiry
- Submissions on Behalf of Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice by Mr Weatherby
- Submissions on Behalf of the Northern Ireland Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice by Mr Lavery
- Submissions on Behalf of Scottish Covid Bereaved by Ms Mitchell
- Submissions on Behalf of Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice Cymru by Ms Heaven
- Submissions on Behalf of the Trades Union Congress by Ms Murphy
- 14 February 2023
- 4 October 2022
- Opening Remarks by Lady Hallett
- Opening Statement by Mr Keith
- Opening Statement by Mr Weatherby
- Opening Statement by Mr Lavery
- Opening Statement by Ms Mitchell
- Opening Statement by Mr Bermingham
- Opening Statement by Ms Gallagher
- Opening Statement by Ms Henke
- Opening Statement by Ms Spearing
- Response Statement by Mr Keith