On 5 July, the day after the general election supporters of life sentence prisoner Kevan Thakrar including FRFI, the campaign group Joint Enterprise Not Guilty By Association (JENGbA) and Pay Day Mens Network, protested outside the Ministry of Justice, demanding an end to his punitive treatment and that he be removed from solitary confinement.
Kevan was sentenced in 2008 to serve a minimum period of 35 years for joint enterprise murder. Since 2010, when he defended himself against a racist attack by prison staff, he has been held in the Close Supervision Centre (CSC) system, much of this time in total solitary confinement.
Kevan brought judicial review proceedings to challenge his continued solitary confinement. A full hearing of his case took place on 25/26 April 2023. It has been over a year and a judgment has still not been handed down. No reason has been given for the delay, however the Government Legal Department has illegitimately made repeated contact with the judge since the hearing, seeking to delay and prejudice the outcome as much as possible.
Because of the delay, the Prison Service has been empowered to subject Kevan to further mistreatment, by transferring him without warning from HMP Manchester to a high control segregation cell in HMP Whitemoor, where he is now detained under worse conditions than even those raised in the judicial review.
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture had already raised Kevan’s situation three years ago; however the government never fully responded to the concerns raised and Kevan continues to be held in solitary confinement today.
Please support Kevan by writing to him at the address below or email him using www.emailaprisoner.com
Kevan Thakrar A4907AE
HMP Whitemoor
Longhill Road
March, PE15 0PR
Rose McKenzie Lewis
FIGHT RACISM! FIGHT IMPERIALISM! 301 August/September 2024
