Many prisoners feel that they are being held to ransom – if you complain, you’re rocking the boat, you are seen as being difficult and in turn things can be made difficult for you.
Open Justice is proud to publish the story of one woman who rocked the boat and won a major victory against systemic discrimination and inequalities within the UK prison system.
In March 2021 C was informed that she would remain barred from the possibility of Release on Temporary License [ROTL] until 2 years from the end of her sentence. This had been government policy across the prison estate. The letter referred to a recent change which would allow male prisoners – and only male prisoners – to be recategorised 3 years from the end of their sentences.
C’s campaign revealed that the Government had begun trialing this new policy exclusively with male prisoners, contravening the 2010 Equalities Act and discriminating against the over three thousand women prisoners in England and Wales.
In October this year, Open Justice learned that this landmark battle had overturned the discriminatory application of changes to recategorisation. Hundreds of women will now be eligible for ROTL a year earlier than under the previous rules. This could mean access to work opportunities, time with their children, families and friends, and a better chance to rebuild lives that prison has destroyed.
Here we present the testimony of C and her extraordinary fight for this victory.
* C's name cannot be published due to concerns about a response from HMPPS.
* Release on Temporary License [ROTL] means being allowed to leave prison for a short time. This time may be for work, to visit children or family members, or reintegration into the community before release. Certain categories of prisoners are excluded from ROTL.
* A prisoner may be ‘recategorised’ according to their perceived risk to the public, other prisoners and staff. This can occur after a review by a board or governor, carried out once a year or once every six months for shorter sentences.
OPEN JUSTICE [OJ]: How did you first learn about the discriminatory policy?
March 2021: a slip of paper is pushed under my cell door. It’s a generic form about recategorisation. “You have been assessed as remaining ‘closed’ as you have more than 2 years left to serve! This has been discussed with you.” Strange, I think, I don't recall having a conversation or discussion with anyone – not a single person, officer nor offender manager [POM] has bothered to discuss anything with me. At this point it’s worth mentioning that I had just over 3 years left to serve.
Whilst in prison, I have read as much as I possibly can: PSIs [Prison Service Instructions] and Policy Frameworks. As far as I am concerned, they are all too open to interpretation and as a result of this a lot of decision-making lacks logic. One of the policies I read was about recategorisation. I have been reading this policy since the day I was sentenced. I can quote it verbatim – unlike the people who are implementing said policies. In this policy PSI39 [Female Recategorisation Policy], it is stated that under Governor discretion (providing the prisoner fits a certain criteria) it was possible to be recategorised if you had more than 2 years left of your sentence. As someone who has kept to the rules and regulations, I thought maybe I could push the issue on that basis. Before doing so, I rang a friend of mine to check if there were any updates to prison policies. A few days later I receive 2 policies in the mail: one was the female recategorisation policy PSI39, the other the male recategorisation policy PSI40.
I read and compare both policies which are generally identical except for one major thing: where it stated that ‘a prisoner can be assessed for open conditions’ at 2 years in the female policy, the male policy states that men should have 3 years left to serve.
It turns out that the male policy had been changed in January 2020.
I can't express how I felt. Let's just say the air was full of profanities coming from me. Unbelievable! There and then I knew that I just couldn’t let this go. No way could I sit back and do nothing.
Some things just have to be fought.
OJ: What action did you take to fight this discrimination?
First, I filled in a Comp1 form [internal prisoner complaint form] pointing out the disparities between the male and female policies. Several weeks later I received a response, thanking me for pointing out the issue but saying that at the minute they had to adhere to female policy and they would raise the issue with PGD [Prison Group Director]. Straight away I filled in Comp1A, which is for an appeal to a decision from a Comp1 response… I know long winded, isn't it? This is how it is. It’s designed to be long and arduous but let's face it none of us are going anywhere anytime soon… so what's the rush!
On the Comp1A I pointed out that I was being discriminated against because of my sex. If I were a man, I would be able to be assessed and recategorised at this point in my sentence.
While I was awaiting a response, I couldn’t relax. It really bugged me that such blatant discrimination was being allowed and those that worked in this patriarchal system were either not bothered or just couldn’t see it. Women are just meant to accept it. Are we all just conditioned to think that way? Does it give everyone an easier life if the ‘little woman’ just shuts up and puts up with what is, let's face it, misogynistic behaviour? Well, I make no apologies: this ‘little woman’ cannot and will not accept it.
The system is reliant on people not wanting to question logic or motives. Many prisoners feel that they are being held to ransom – if you complain, you’re rocking the boat, you are seen as being difficult and in turn things can be made difficult for you.
I write to a long list of people about the policy: MPs; PGD; human rights organisations; women's rights groups; prison charities; HMPPS – to name just a few. The small number of responses I received was quite disappointing, so I re-sent the letters to the same people. I also asked friends and family to email these people on my behalf. I wasn’t just going to go away!
OJ: What was the response of HMPPS to your criticism?
So we are now at the beginning of June. Quite some time has passed and of course in a prison setting whilst under Covid restrictions time feels twice as long. I was approached by a CM [Custody Manager] asking if I had contacted anyone about recategorisation. A stupid question, given that he already knew the answer. It turned out that the powers-that-be had contacted one of the Governors. I reminded him that I was quite within my rights to contact anyone within governmental departments. I had done everything right, I had gone about things in a procedural way. Apparently, my name is going around every government dept… Good!
Several weeks later I finally received a response from HMPPS to one of my many letters. I read the response several times. I couldn’t believe what I was reading. I read it out to friends and family down the phone just to see if it raised the same reaction from them. It did.
In layman's terms it said: the powers-that-be needed to look at security issues in and around the male estate as they were aware that male prisoners were flooding prisons with mobile phones and drugs, were still in touch with OCGs [Organised Crimes Groups] and were continuing with criminality. So – they were giving male prisoners an extra year in open conditions as a reward for this… Seriously?
I found the letter to be insulting and I said as much in my response. My reply got a reaction in the form of a visit from someone from HMPPS - I am told that this is unheard of, well aren’t I the lucky one!
I should also point out that throughout all of this I was in touch with a solicitor. Time is ticking on. I am getting frustrated at the lack of logic and lack of anything happening. I ask for an ad-hoc review on my recategorisation. I had done everything right: complied with rules; made good use of my time; completed my sentence plan; started a distance learning degree – all while dealing with long term health conditions. I was the epitome of a ‘model prisoner’. There is nothing for me to do behind the fence. Why am I still here? What is this achieving? It is time for progress, instead of being in a state of stagnation with my brain cells feeling like they are popping off one by one day by day.
I was hauled off to the Governor’s office for a meeting regarding my recategorisation. Needless to say, this didn’t go very well at all. I came out of there unable to speak, absolutely seething. I go back to my cell. Once behind the door, I have an urge to scream, to break something but I don’t. I wouldn’t give the system the satisfaction of seeing me lose my shit. I breathe, I pace my cell – well, in a fashion… it's only 8 strides long. A caged lion springs to mind. You know the TV adverts on lions, tigers, and bears (o my!) chained in a cage, rocking to and fro, pacing the short distance of their enclosure. Yes — that is me. And thousands of others.
OJ: How did you keep fighting?
I decided that I am going to take this further – much further. I rang my solicitor and we arranged a video conference to discuss the next steps. I confirmed that I wanted to take this to judicial review on the grounds that I am being directly discriminated against in accordance with the 2010 Equalities Act.
As the paperwork is being drafted, I have to endure being told that I am “argumentative”, that I have “caused a headache” and that I am “a troublemaker”!
Now it’s October 2021. I am losing faith – has this all been for nothing? Feeling down and wondering what else I could possibly do, I am summoned to my POM’s office for a phone call with my solicitor, who is ecstatic at the end of the phone, telling me that the female recategorisation policy has been changed. That it is now in line with the male policy. That the 2 years has been changed to 3 years with immediate effect. I can now be recategorised as open. Finally. Good news? Definitely. I can see my children and grandchildren each month, and I’ve started studying at university.
So why am I not as elated as my solicitor? In short, I am exhausted, I’m drained trying to fight a discriminatory system that is not prepared for change. Do I then get recategorised as open? Yes. Do I move to open conditions? Yes, eventually, after months of paperwork and red-tape.
Did I benefit from my fight? Not really – by the time this came to fruition, I only had a little over 2 years of my sentence left anyway. But then it was never just about me, it was about the thousands of other women caught up in this dysfunctional system that was designed by men for men – and the thousands of women yet to come.
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