Hello. I am looking for some advice. As a female life sentanced prisoner 6 years over tariff i am currently in a low secure hospital awaiting discharge. I have no parole date yet and have been told i am not entitled to a mental health solicitor as i have won my tribunal. My section 47/49 rights dont apply to me anymore and this means i am not entitled to a mental health solicitor. Human right solicitors just say i need a mental health solicitor. Who can actually represent me legally?
Hi T, you’d need a prison law solicitor to represent you if you have an upcoming parole hearing. If the Tribunal determined you could be discharged but needed to stay in hospital in the interim, the Secretary of State should have referred you to the parole board.
Hi Zac.
I have been referred to the parole board and was due a hearing in August 2023, however this has been significantly delayed and repeatedly adjourned due to my MDT’s lack of knowledge about my discharge pathway and numerous mistakes made along the way. (One example being they were unaware that i needed supported accommodation before the parole hearing). I wonder if these mistakes could have been avoided if i still had a mental health solicitor.
For the Parole Board, ideally you’d have a mental health lawyer working for a firm that also does prison law (whether as an employee, agent or consultant) or a prison lawyer who really understands the mental health aspects when a prisoner is in hospital.
Your solicitor should be keeping on top of this sort of thing, e.g. inviting your probation officer to CPA meetings, and explaining the law and procedure both to you and the team, so that everything gets resolved early without causing delays. I’d not put the whole blame on your clinical team. Also, the Parole Board used to be very slow and maybe that’s still problematic.
Thank you. It’s always good to get another perspective. The parole board have been ready since the first due hearing as i am the last case that is part of a pilot scheme to get patients in hospital fast tracked through the process. I will chase up my prison law solicitor.
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