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Prison Law

Protecting the rights of those who have lost their liberty

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Tooks Chambers has an established team of specialists in prison law that has experience of representing prisoners at all levels, from judicial reviews before the House of Lords to hearings before the adjudicators and the Parole Board.

Chambers & Partners 2008 said:

"The team's experience in ... fields such as human rights, prison law and crime gives them a well-rounded perspective"

In the 2010 Guide Hugh Southey QC and Adam Straw were noted for their work in prison law.

Our specialists draw on chambers' expertise in other related areas, such as immigration, public law, human rights and civil liberties, discrimination, civil actions against public authorities, crime (including appeals and references to the Criminal Cases Review Commission) and inquests.

Recent cases in which Tooks has been involved include:

R (Chester) v Secretary of State (2009) The Times 3 November
• R (Alcock) v Parole Board [2009] EWHC Admin 2401
• R (Roberts) v Secretary of State [2009] EWHC Admin 2321
• R (F) v Secretary of State (2009) The Times 20 August
• R (Robinson) v Secretary of State [2009] EWHC Admin 2251
• R (Betteridge) v Parole Board [2009] EWHC Admin 1638
• R (Faizovas) v Secretary of State (2009) The Times 25 May
• R (Black) v Sectary of State [2009] 2 WLR 282
• R (Haase) v Independent Adjudicator [2009] 2 WLR 1004
• Dunn v Parole Board [2008] EWCA Civ 374
• R (Black) v Secretary of State for Justice (2008) The Times 18 April
• Bailey v Secretary of State for Justice (2008) The Times 18 March
• R (Haase) v Independant Adjudicator (2008) The Times 11 February
• R (Walker) v Secretary of State for Justice (2008) The Times 6 February
• R (Graham) v Secretary of State for Justice [2007] EWHC Admin 2940
• R (Page) v Secretary of State for Justice [2007] EWHC Admin 2026
• R ( Cooper) v Parole Board (2007) The Times 6 June
• Roberts v Home Office [2006] 1 WLR 843

Members of the team are also authors, editors and contributors to a number of publications including Judicial Review: A Practical Guide (Jordans, 2004), Jordans' UK Human Rights Reports, A Criminal Practitioners Guide to Judicial Review and Case Stated, the legal queries section of Inside Time prison magazine, and Legal Action. Practitioners carry out pro-bono work, such as for the Prisoners Advice Service.

The team is always happy to be approached for training purposes.

Further Information

Further information about individual members of our Prison Law team can be found using the links to the right. You can also contact our clerks directly:

David Smith 020 7842 7608 david.smith@tooks.co.uk

Simon Gardner 020 7842 7610 simon.gardner@tooks.co.uk

Useful links ( in alphabetical order)

 

Recent news

  • Supreme Court Rules That Sex Offender Legislation Breaches Article 8
    Hugh Southey QC and Adam Straw acted for JF who successfully argued before the Supreme Court that the lack of a review mechanism meant that sex offender registration breached article 8.
    21 April 2010
  • Compatibility of Sex Offender Registration with Article 8 of ECHR
    On 3 February 2010 Hugh Southey is leading Adam Straw in the Supreme Court in the case of F considering the compatibility of sex offender registration with Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
    2 February 2010
  • High Court Judgment in Prisoner Medical Treatment Judicial Review
    Adam Straw represented the claimant who was successful in requiring the Secretary of State to publish his policy on providing medical treatment to prisoners
    2 September 2009
  • Court of Appeal Judgment re Indefinite Sex Offender Registration
    Hugh Southey represented a young sex offender, F, in the Secretary of State’s appeal against the finding of the Divisional Court that indefinite sex offender registration without the possibility of review was not compatible with article 8 of the ECHR. The Court of Appeal delivered judgment on 23 July 2009 upholding the Divisional Court judgment.
    23 July 2009
  • European Court of Human Rights Decision in Szuluk v. The United Kingdom
    Hugh Southey acted for the prisoner in Szuluk v. The United Kingdom in which the UK was found to have breached Article 8 by monitoring a prisoner's medical correspondence
    2 June 2009
  • Hugh Southey Acted For F in His Successful Challenge to the Sex Offender Registration Scheme
    Landmark High Court case ruling handed down at the end of two test cases
    22 December 2008
  • Court of Appeal Landmark Judgement in David Walker
    Hugh Southey acted in the recent appeal to the Court of Appeal in which the Court held that the failure to provide opportunities for prisoners serving indeterminate sentences for public protection to progress was unlawful.
    5 February 2008
  • Prison detox regime contributed to Prisoner's death
    A jury sitting at Manchester Coroner's Court found that a programme of heroin detoxification operated at HMP Manchester which involved the use of Dihydrocodeine (DF118) was not clinically proven to be effective.
    28 November 2007
  • Legal 500 2007 recommends Tooks Chambers
    17 September 2007

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