- The leading text in its field.
- Offers unique breadth and depth of coverage of the laws relating to prisoners in a single, comprehensive volume.
- Increased coverage of issues relating to women in children in detention, and those detained under immigration powers.
- Gives clear, authoritative guidance on the large body of case law generated in this area since the previous edition.
New to this edition
- Covers all significant Strasbourg prison cases, including their policy ramifications in the UK
- Covers the vast number of changes to the regime for release on licence for fixed term and indeterminate sentence prisoners, including life sentence prisoners
- Updated coverage of the Equality Act and its application in the prison context
- Increased coverage of issues relating to women in children in detention, and those detained under immigration powers
- Increased coverage of the issues raised by litigation involving private prisons and contractors
Prison Law is the leading text in its field. It offers comprehensive coverage of the substantive law, the Prison Rules, and the remedies available to prisoners, including complaints procedures, civil claims, judicial review, and claims under the Human Rights Act. Both domestic and international avenues of redress are explained in detail. The book covers all aspects of prison life, from categorization and allocation to living conditions, access to the outside world, transfer and repatriation, discipline, and the procedures governing the release of fixed term prisoners and those serving life sentences.
The new edition has been completely revised and updated to take account of relevant decisions under the Human Rights Act and at the European Court of Human Rights, including important decisions on IPP sentences, ministerial involvement in prison release, conditions of detention, and their policy ramifications in the UK. The changes to the life sentence regime and the prison disciplinary system, implemented since publication of the previous edition, have been fully addressed. It also covers the Equality Act and its application in the prison context. Further, it includes a new introduction summarizing the development of prison law over the 20 years since the first edition, and its importance in the wider context of public law principles especially the expansion of jurisdiction (St Germain, Leech and Hague), fairness (Duggan, Doody), the principle of legality (Raymond v Honey, Leech No 2, Pierson, Simms and O'Brien) and HRA review (Daly and subsequent HRA decisions).
Critical analysis is combined with practical guidance to make Prison Law immensely useful to practitioners, academics, and anyone with a professional interest in crime and punishment.
Readership: Barristers and solicitors representing or advising prisoners and their families, the judiciary, and students and academics interested in criminal law and human rights. It will also be of interest to prison library users, prison governers and officers, probation officers, academics and students interested in penology and sociology, and academic libraries in the UK and worldwide.