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England and Wales High Court (Administrative Court) Decisions |
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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> England and Wales High Court (Administrative Court) Decisions >> Wood, R (on the application of) v Governor of HMP Wandsworth [2015] EWHC 2761 (Admin) (16 September 2015) URL: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2015/2761.html Cite as: [2015] EWHC 2761 (Admin) |
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QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION
THE ADMINISTRATIVE COURT
Strand London WC2A 2LL |
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B e f o r e :
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THE QUEEN ON THE APPLICATION OF LEWIS WOOD | Claimant | |
v | ||
GOVERNOR OF HMP WANDSWORTH | Defendant |
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WordWave International Limited
trading as DTI
8th Floor, 165 Fleet Street London EC4A 2DY
Tel No: 020 7404 1400 Fax No: 020 7404 1424
(Official Shorthand Writers to the Court)
Ms H Slarks (instructed by the Government Legal Department) appeared on behalf of the Defendant
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Crown Copyright ©
Mr Justice Kerr :
Your prison issue Access to Justice Laptop broke a couple of months ago. I arranged for Officer Mangera to remove all the files from the hard drive and place them on a disk. At the same time Officer Mangera reviewed all those prisoners in possession of Access to Justice to Laptops to see if they were still eligible. However, he concluded that all those currently in possession are still eligible for Access to Justice Laptops.
Unfortunately HMP Wandsworth has no spare Laptops at present but I have placed you first on the reserve list for a new one when it becomes available. However, we are still awaiting the allocation of more Access to Justice Laptops here at HMP Wandsworth so I cannot guarantee when this will be.
You cannot get your own Laptop sent in as the ones we receive from head office are specially adapted for security purposes.
When we receive a new Access to Justice Laptops you will be allocated a new one depending if you are still eligible at the time.
5. The Defendant is obliged to afford a prisoner a right of access to justice. That includes a right of access to a fair means of looking after his or her own interests as a self-representing litigant in any appeals against the first instance decisions that have gone against them, but that right is balanced against the security risks inherent in introducing computers into prisons. The types of misuse which can and have occurred include communicating with outside persons with a view to facilitating criminal activities, the making of malicious allegations by prisoners against prison staff, unauthorised disclosure of confidential documents and of course, the creation of a potential risk to internal prison security measures. Therefore, a policy had to be developed in order to resolve the tensions between the right of access to justice and those risks.
6. There are a number of different types of computers that are available in a prison. These include so-called "A2J computers" which are laptops that are specifically provided, in certain circumstances, for legal work; and educational computers.
...
9. The most recent helpful guidance is provided by a decision of Hickinbottom J in the case of R(Kenyon) v Governor of HMP Wakefield and Another [2012] EWHC 1259 (Admin), 22 March 2012. In that particular case, Hickinbottom J was concerned with questions of access to justice and with the policy which I have quoted. He also had to consider the earlier decision of the Court of Appeal in R (Ponting) v Governor of HMP Whitemoor and Another [2002] EWCA Civ 224.
10. Essentially, what was decided in Kenyon was that every case has to be looked at on its own facts, that article 6 requires access to be reasonable and that every party who wants to represent himself must have an equal opportunity of presenting his case, but that only extends to being given a reasonable opportunity. That means an opportunity ensuring that that that party concerned is not at a substantial disadvantage vis-à-vis his or her opponent. Equality of arms requires a fair balance to be struck between the parties with any limitations on the access to the tribunal being proportionate.
11. In the case of Kenyon, the governor of the prison concerned had concluded on the facts that the Claimant had failed to show that unless he were provided with IT facilities, his right to fair process in his criminal proceedings would be potentially compromised. The judge agreed with that decision, making it very clear that each case is fact specific.
12. He did also make clear in paragraph 35 of his judgment that in making an application for access to justice laptops, the burden of proof falls upon the prisoner and the evidence in support is entirely a matter in the prisoner's own hands. It is obvious from the authorities that simply saying that a prisoner requires access to a word processor in order to be able to type rather than handwrite court documents would not in and of itself be good enough. It has to be shown that the denial of the use of those facilities is something which will impede his access to justice. For example, if there is a case which is very document heavy and the opposing side has provided thousands of pages of documentation, it may well be that fairness requires that a computer which has a search facility should be made available in order to enable the prisoner representing himself to search through the documents and access information that is pertinent to the points that he wishes to put.
"(6) Permission to appeal may be given only where –
(a) the court considers that the appeal would have a real prospect of success; or
(b) there is some other compelling reason why the appeal should be heard."
So what do you want to say, Mr Wood?