LONDON, MARCH 30 2020 - Leaders from the business and legal communities have co-signed an open letter (attached and copied below) to Justice Secretary Robert Buckland MP to release medically vulnerable and nonviolent offenders at risk of COVID-19 in prisons and jails. 

They join hundreds of campaigners who have signed open letters over the past few days calling for the release of at-risk prisoners including the elderly, the pregnant and the chronically ill. Yesterday Northern Ireland announced it was planning to enact such measures. 

Chris Daw QC (a signatory) articulated the threat posed to these inmates:

“We don’t execute people in this country, yet COVID-19 is a death sentence for many elderly and vulnerable inmates. Releasing them isn’t just about public health, it’s about human rights”.

Coronavirus is poised to spread rapidly in prisons and jails due to space restrictions and poor sanitary conditions, and thousands are imploring the Justice Secretary to protect these individuals and curb prison populations. Outbreaks also pose a substantial threat to the surrounding communities, with thousands of staff entering and exiting these facilities every day. 

This follows the death of two inmates last week, with 27 cases reported in 14 different UK prisons. 3500 prison staff, or 10% of the workforce, are self-isolating.  

The signatories, who include prominent figures such as Lord Hastings of Scarisbrick (formerly KPMG) and Baroness Martha Lane-Fox of Soho (co-founder of lastminute.com), highlight the health risk to inmates, prison staff and the general public, as well as the need to reduce the enormous pressure currently facing the prison system and the NHS. 

Lord Hastings elaborated: 

“COVID-19 threatens the lives of millions of the vulnerable in our society, and nowhere more so than in our prisons and jails. We must act now and release these offenders, who post no threat to community safety, and stop an already dangerous situation becoming a public disaster”

Celia Ouellette, Chief Executive at the Responsible Business Initiative for Justice (who coordinated the effort) said: 

“Businesses are trying to do everything they can to save lives, but they also know there is huge pressure on them to restart the economy when restrictions end. The government should be doing everything it can to help our businesses get back to work and preventing the spread COVID-19 in our prison system is critical to this.”

The Responsible Business Initiative for Justice is a non-profit that works with businesses to champion fairness and equality across systems of punishment and incarceration. For more news, sign up to our press list

Letter text (also attached):

The Rt. Hon. Robert Buckland QC MP

Member of Parliament for South Swindon 

Secretary of State for Justice and Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain 

 

Dear Lord Chancellor, 

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to escalate, we urge you to exercise your executive powers granted under section 248 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 to release vulnerable and non-violent offenders from our prisons and jails. 

We want to express our support for the proposals already under consideration, such as the immediate release of pregnant women. We also ask that you go further. Many of us in the business and legal communities have already taken unprecedented steps to ensure the safety of our employees, our customers, our clients and the general public. By taking these steps, we acknowledge the need for drastic action to protect the most vulnerable among us. However, to truly protect people in our communities and our justice system, we must urgently reduce our prison population. 

As you will be aware, given the close proximity of inmates, the outbreak in British prisons will spread exponentially unless immediate action is taken. Once infected, many elderly and other vulnerable prisoners stand to become extremely ill and die. Current estimates project fatalities exceeding 1 percent of the incarcerated population, amounting to over 800 deaths. 

Furthermore, we know that just one person carrying COVID-19 can infect dozens of others in close quarters. Every single day, thousands of British citizens go to work inside our prisons then return to their communities. Any outbreaks inside facilities will quickly spread to the surrounding areas, causing unnecessary suffering and preventable deaths. 

Releasing vulnerable and low-risk individuals will lighten the immense burden on prison staff. With over 10 percent of this workforce already self-isolating, we ask you to lessen this load and assist them in their crucial service. 

By taking this step to prevent the spread of COVID-19, you will also help reduce the enormous pressure on our National Health Service. We ask that do everything in your power to help our doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals fight this battle. 

Therefore, we urge you to grant compassionate release on temporary license to the following categories of prisoners, unless there is clear and convincing evidence an individual would present a current and unreasonable risk to the physical safety of the community: 

1.      The elderly; 

2.      All people who are medically vulnerable;

3.      All people with six months or less remaining on a sentence;

4.      Pregnant women; and 

5.      All people awaiting trial for a non-violent offence.

To continue detaining these vulnerable inmates is tantamount to a death sentence for many. It presents an unacceptable risk of infection to inmates, prison staff and the general public. 

We implore you to take swift action now to protect our communities, our NHS, and our justice system.  

Signed by:

Alan McGee, Founder, Creation23   

Ali Niaz, Joint Principal, BPureSounds.

Alice Morgan, Diversity and Inclusion Consultant and Solicitor, Sidley Austin LLP

Andrew Dixon, Founder and Investor, ARC InterCapital

Anita Davies, Barrister, Matrix Chambers

Baroness Martha Lane-Fox of Soho CBE, Crossbench Life Peer, Co-Founder, lastminute.com

Ben Sturge, Business Development Consultant, Fonesavvy

Caitlin Heising, Vice Chair, Heising‐Simons Foundation; member of Advisory Council, RBIJ

Camille Le Pors, Programme Manager, Corporate Human Rights Benchmark, World Benchmarking Alliance

Celia Ouellette, Chief Executive Officer, Responsible Business Initiative for Justice

Chris Daw QC, Barrister, Serjeants' Inn

Daniel Miller, Founder, Mute Records

Dayo Okewale, Chief of Staff to Lord Hastings at the House of Lords, and Co-Chair on Equal Justice, Nexus Global

Gary Stewart, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder, The Nest

George Turner, Co-Founder, Carney’s Community

Hugh Hudson, Film Director, Hudson Film

Hugh Lenon, Chairman, Phoenix Equity Partners

Hugh Southey QC, Barrister, Matrix Chambers

James Longster, Partner, Travers Smith LLP

Lady Edwina Grosvenor, Philanthropist and Prison Reformer, Founder and Ambassador, The Clink Charity, and Founder and Chair, One Small Thing

Michael Conn, Founder, Titanium Music

Michael Corrigan, Founder, Resume Foundation

Michael Robinson, Chief Growth Officer, Kikioo

Nick Armstrong, Barrister, Matrix Chambers

Paul John Birch, Founder, Revolver Records

Paul van Zyl, Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer, The Conduit

Phillippa Kaufmann QC, Barrister, Matrix Chambers

Rebecca Smith, Director, A.I.M. High Project

Rod Anderson, Chief Operating Officer, Code4000 UK 

Sabrina Mahtani, Lawyer and Penal Reform Expert

Samantha Knights QC, Barrister, Matrix Chambers

Samuel Coe, Barrister

Sylvia Coleman, Co-Founder and Joint Principal, BPureSounds

The Lord Hastings of Scarisbrick CBE, Crossbench Life Peer, Vice President of Catch 22, previously Chairman of Crime Concern 

Uzma Hasan, Producer, Little House Productions

Zia Bhaloo QC, Barrister, Landmark Chambers