Monthly Archives: July 2011

source: http://www.prisonstudies.org/images/news_events/wppl9.pdf

Key points 

More than 10.1 million people are held in penal institutions throughout the world, mostly as pre-trial detainees/remand prisoners or as sentenced prisoners. Almost half of these are in the United States (2.29m), Russia (0.81m) or China (1.65m sentenced prisoners). In addition more than 650,000 are in ‘detention centres’ in China; if these are included the overall Chinese total is over 2.3 million and the world total more than 10.75 million.

The United States has the highest prison population rate in the world, 743 per 100,000 of the national population, followed by Rwanda (c. 595), Russia (568), Georgia (547), U.S. Virgin Is. (539), Seychelles (507), St Kitts & Nevis (495), British Virgin Is. (468), Belize (439), Dominica (431), Bermuda (428), Grenada (423) and Curacao (422).

However, more than half the countries and territories (54%) have rates below 150 per 100,000.

The world population at mid-2010 was estimated at 6.9 billion (United Nations); if set against the world prison population of 10.1 million this would produce a world prison population rate of 146 per 100,000 (156 per 100,000 if set against a world prison population of 10.75 million).

Prison population rates vary considerably between different regions of the world, and between different parts of the same continent. For example:

••in Africa the median rate for western African countries is 47.5 whereas for southern African countries it is 219;

••in the Americas the median rate for south American countries is 175 whereas for Caribbean countries it is 357.5;

••in Asia the median rate for south central Asian countries (mainly the Indian sub-continent) is 42 whereas for eastern Asian countries it is 155.5;

••in Europe the median rate for western European countries is 96 whereas for the countries spanning Europe and Asia (e.g. Russia & Turkey) it is 228.

••in Oceania (including Australia and New Zealand) the median rate is 135.

Prison populations are growing in all five continents.

Updated information on countries included in previous editions of the World Prison Population List shows that prison populations have risen in 78% of countries (in 71% of countries in Africa, 82% in the Americas, 80% in Asia, 74% in Europe and 80% in Oceania).

The  Lockerbie bomber has shown his support for beleaguered Libyan President Colonel Gaddafi -  appearing at a government rally broadcast on state TV; causing Converse to ask why he is still on licence.

Wheelchair-bound Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi was pictured at the demonstration  in Tripoli, two years after being freed from prison in Scotland, when it was said he only had three months to live.

Mark Leech editor of Converse told the BBC that al-Megrahi was released on temporary licence when it was believed he was within days of death.

Mr Leech said: “Clearly the medical information on which that licence was based was flawed.

“What’s more a condition of his licence was that he would not flaunt his freedom – had this been any other prisoner in the UK, still alive two years after they should have died, and appearing across the world’s media sticking two fingers up to his hundreds of victims, their feet would not touch.

“They won’t get al-Megrahi back now, no matter what the law technically says can happen – but it should act as a warning about releasing notorious terrorists in the future no matter how close the medical experts claims they are to the proverbial ‘deaths door’.”

ends

CONVERSE

The National Prisoners Newspaper

26th July 2011 – No Embargo

Anders Behring Breivik – The Solitary Confinement That Would Be Illegal Here

Norway, for all its claim to respect for human rights, imposed four weeks of solitary confinement on the alleged mass killer, Anders Behring Breivik, which would be illegal in UK prisons says Mark Leech, Editor of Converse, the national prisoners’ newspaper.

Mr Leech said:  “Neither judges nor magistrates have any power to stipulate what happens to a prisoner once they arrive at the jail, that is for the prison Governor to decide; not even the Secretary of State for Justice, Ken Clarke, could order a Governor to put a prisoner in solitary confinement; it would be illegal.

“In England and Wales solitary confinement of a prisoner, known technically here as Cellular Confinement – or ‘CC’- can only happen after the prisoner has been found guilty of a disciplinary offence in the jail, but even then the absolute maximum, no matter how many charges he has been found guilty of, is three weeks – and even that is subject to the assessment of a medical officer who can call it off at any time.

“What’s more, even when a prisoner is undergoing ‘CC’ he is still entitled to visits from his solicitor, is he not stopped from receiving or writing letters, and even his family visits should not ordinarily be postponed if he is on CC unless there are good grounds for doing so.”

 

Ends

1. Converse is the national monthly newspaper for prisons in England and Wales, published by Prisons org uk Limited, (www.prisons.org.uk) it has a circulation of around 60,000 copies.

2. Its editor is Mark Leech (www.markleech.com)

3. Contact Mark Leech: 08450 660011

CONVERSE NEWS REPORT: 26/7/2011: 11:56hrs

Police officers engaged in a “prolonged, persistent and pervasive conspiracy to pervert the course of justice” as it emerged a key murder trial witness had sex with a policewoman, was taken to a brothel and allowed to take drugs, a Supreme Court ruling has revealed.

The “shocking and disgraceful” police misconduct also revealed that Karl Chapman, a professional criminal and supergrass, socialised at officers’ homes and visited pubs as West Yorkshire Police sought to secure his continued co-operation.

The Supreme Court judgment, published yesterday, reveals the “variety of wholly inappropriate benefits” bestowed on Chapman by West Yorkshire officers.

One judge, Lord Brown, found that a large number of officers, including “several of very high rank”, were engaged in a “prolonged, persistent and pervasive conspiracy to pervert the course of justice”.

The force also ignored a number of violent crimes allegedly committed by Chapman, including the brutal rape of his cellmate and the vicious stabbing of a fellow prisoner with broken glass bound with twine.

Chapman received special treatment because he was the main prosecution witness in the case of Paul Maxwell, who last month admitted murdering 85-year-old Joe Smales in Wakefield in 1996. Maxwell received a 17-and-a-half-year jail term.

Maxwell and his brother, Daniel Mansell, were originally found guilty of the attack after a Leeds Crown Court trial in 1998, but the convictions were quashed by the Court of Appeal in 2009 on the grounds that the convictions had been “procured by gross prosecutorialmisconduct”.

Five Supreme Court judges ruled by a majority of three to two that Maxwell should face a retrial, with the judgment published yesterday.

Lord Brown stated: “To describe police misconduct on this scale merely as shocking and disgraceful is to understate the gravity of its impact on the prosecution process.

“It is hard to imagine a worse case of sustained prosecutorial dishonesty designed to secure and hold a conviction at all costs.”

The full extent of the officers’ behaviour was uncovered by a North Yorkshire Police investigation on behalf of the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which probes potential miscarriages of justice.

Referring to the CCRC report, Lord Brown said: “The unchallenged findings of this report are not just disturbing but quite frankly astonishing.”

He said: “They were benefits which both contravened the controls designed to preserve the integrity of Chapman’s evidence and were in addition inherently improper.

“Amongst the more surprising were that whilst in police custody Chapman was at various times permitted to visit a brothel, to engage in sexual relations with a woman police constable, to visit public houses, to consume not merely alcohol but also cannabis and even heroin, to socialise at police officers’ homes, to enjoy unsupervised periods of freedom.

“And indeed, throughout the actual period of the appellant’s trial, whilst threatening not to give evidence after all, he was permitted long periods of leisure (hours at a time) in places of his choice, ostensibly as “exercise”, and in addition phone calls and visits from his own solicitor.”

Lord Brown said a detective mentioned the brothel outing to the female police officer with whom Chapman was enjoying sexual relations. Chapman wrote to her apologising: “I was drunk and stoned on weed, they paraded a dozen beautiful women in front of me and said take your pick.”

Lord Brown said: “A large number of police officers involved in the investigation and prosecution of the Smales robbery and murder case, including several of very high rank, engaged in a prolonged, persistent and pervasive conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

He went on: “To describe police misconduct on this scale merely as shocking and disgraceful is to understate the gravity of its impact upon the integrity of the prosecution process.

“It is hard to imagine a worse case of sustained prosecutorial dishonesty designed to secure and hold a conviction at all costs.”

Lord Brown said: “Scarcely less remarkable and deplorable than this catalogue ofmisconduct, moreover, is the fact that, notwithstanding its emergence through the subsequent investigation, not a single one of the many police officers involved has since been disciplined or prosecuted for what he did.”

West Yorkshire Police deputy chief constable David Crompton said the recent re-investigation of the case had been praised for its “thoroughness and professionalism” and the “honesty, thoroughness and integrity of the officers”.

But he said “in light of the criticism levelled by the Supreme Court judges, we feel it now appropriate to re-examine the previous decisions made several years ago”.

The senior police officer said: “In relation to the original investigation back in 1996, the methods used to deal with the main witness were wholly unacceptable and cannot be condoned in any way whatsoever.

“As a result, the matter was highlighted to the Criminal Cases Review Commission and, for transparency, North Yorkshire Police were brought in to conduct an inquiry.

“As a result of that extensive and lengthy investigation, the CPS (Crown Prosecution Service) decided there should be no criminal proceedings in relation to any officer.

“Nevertheless, in light of the criticism levelled by the Supreme Court judges, we feel it now appropriate to re-examine the previous decisions made several years ago which were based upon the outcome of both the criminal and disciplinary investigations conducted by North Yorkshire Police.

“Since the original investigation was carried out 16 years ago, there has been a complete root and branch overhaul of procedures to safeguard against such failings and to prevent them from ever happening again.”