The Court of Appeal has ruled it is wrong to not allow convicts state-funded legal help in a move that overturned policy introduced in 2013 by then Justice Secretary Chris Grayling. The Judges felt that such a move to deprive criminals of legal aid would be particularly unfair for the mentally ill and prisoners with learning difficulties.
Unlawful in three situations
The judges found the removal of legal aid was unlawful in three situations - parole board hearings to decide if prisoners on indeterminate sentences were ready to be transferred to open prisons; reviews of Category A prisoners and decisions about placing inmates in specialist secure units.
No ample safety net
They also explained that while there may be safeguards other than legal aid to ensure prisoners could engage in processes and decisions about them, almost no changes had been introduced to fill the gap left by the removal of legal aid.
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