The claimants challenge what is said to be the continuing failure of the Secretary of State for Justice (‘the Secretary of State’) to make adequate provision for so called approved premises to accommodate women released from prison on licence. The claimants are women prisoners approaching the date on which they will be considered for release on licence. There are now only six women’s approved premises in England, none in London, and none in Wales. Thus the claimants are said to face a significant likelihood of being in approved premises many miles from their homes and families, with detrimental effects on their rehabilitation and reintegration into the community.
Cranston J did declare that the Secretary of State had failed to discharge the public sector equality duty: ‘What is required is that the Secretary of State address possible impacts, assessing whether there is a disadvantage, how significant it is, and what steps might be taken to mitigate it. In the context of advancing equality of opportunity – one aspect of the duty – that means taking the opportunity to see whether more might be done for women, having regard to their particular circumstances. Nothing even approaching this has been done.’
Judges:
Cranston J
Citations:
[2013] EWHC 4077 (Admin), [2014] WLR(D) 136
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Appeal from – Coll v Secretary of State for Justice CA 31-Mar-2015
The appellant was serving a mandatory life sentence for murder. She was being considered for release from custody to ‘Approved Premises’. There were however more such centres for men and the provision for women was unplanned. The results, she said . .
At First Instance – Coll, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Justice SC 24-May-2017
The appellant female prisoner asserted that the much smaller number of probation and bail hostels provided for women prisoners when released on licence was discriminatory in leaving greater numbers of women far removed from their families.
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Prisons, Human Rights
Updated: 07 August 2022; Ref: scu.519336