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Prison Law

Protecting the rights of those who have lost their liberty

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”

Hugh Southey was noted for his 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 and inquests.

Recent cases in which Tooks has been involved include:

• 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
• R (Scholes) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2006] 170 JP 243.
• R (Buddington) v Secretary of State for Home Department (2005) The Times 20 October, DC
• R (Tangney) v Governor of HMP Elmley [2005] HRLR 36, CA
• R (Dudson) v Secretary of State for Home Department [2005] 3 WLR 422, HL
• R (Al-Hasan) v Secretary of State for Home Department [2005] 1 WLR 688, HL
• R (Hindawi) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2004] UKHRR 1146

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 7841 6108 david.smith@tooks.co.uk
• Simon Gardner 020 7841 6110 simon.gardner@tooks.co.uk

Useful links ( in alphabetical order)

• Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Prisons: http://inspectorates.homeoffice.gov.uk/hmiprisons/
• National Offender Management Service: http://www.noms.homeoffice.gov.uk/
• National Probation Service: http://www.probation.homeoffice.gov.uk/output/Page1.asp
• Parole Board: http://www.paroleboard.gov.uk/
• Prison Service: http://www.hmprisonservice.gov.uk/
• Prisons Ombudsman: http://www.ppo.gov.uk/

Recent news

• 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

• 1985 Joel Bennathan QC (2004)
• 1977 Patrick Roche
• 1987 Martin Huseyin
• 1988 Peter Wilcock
• 1988 Chris Williams
• 1992 Allison Munroe
• 1993 Tim Moloney
• 1995 Andrea Chute
• 1995 David Heraghty
• 1996 Hugh Southey
• 1996 Sarah Bourke
• 1997 Nick Wrack
• 1998 Paul Troop
• 1998 Rebekah Wilson
• 2001 Navtej Singh Ahluwalia
• 2002 Naeem Mian
• 2003 Abigail Smith
• 2004 Adam Straw
• 2006 Leonie Hirst