Hello,
I have a section 47/49 tribunal listed this week.
Client transferred prison to hospital August. Applied to the tribunal shortly after. Tribunal not listed until this week.
The end of sentence date is 10 days after the tribunal.
Realistically it would seem even if the tribunal made a recommendation to the Secretary of State he’ll be on the notional section 37 before anything is actioned.
It all seems a little academic now and wondered if others had had this situation recently.
Thanks
What does the client want? How well is he?
Let’s say he’s well. If the tribunal were to make a s74(1)(a) notification (that he would, if subject to a restriction order, be entitled to be absolutely or conditionally discharged) but not the s74(1)(b) notification (that he should remain in hospital) then I imagine he would be sent back to jail before his release date, and get released then. If the tribunal were to make both notifications then once the release date comes around, when he changes from s47/49 to s47, you’d have a strong argument that he should be discharged straight away by the RC.
Maybe he’s not so well. According to R (MN) v MHRT [2008] EWHC 3383 (Admin) the tribunal lose jurisdiction on the release date, but maybe you could end up arguing that it was wrongly decided. Maybe ask for a postponement or adjournment for a few days so that the tribunal could be more useful and consider actual discharge instead of hypothetical discharge. If the client would otherwise have withdrawn anyway then he’d have nothing to lose.