A prisoner has won a judicial review against oppressive prison conditions in the Close Supervision Centre (CSC). Muslim prisoner Fuad Awale brought a case against the Secretary of State for Justice (SSJ) for effectively keeping him segregated, amounting to solitary confinement for almost two years, unable to associate with any other prisoner.
Despite being assessed as suitable to mix with other prisoners, Awale was prevented from doing so as a result of a gang of racist and Islamophobic prisoners known as the Death before Dishonour gang. They were deemed to be a risk to him, yet it was he who was punished. The judge held that the SSJ had also breached both Awale’s European Convention right to a private life and the Public Sector Equality Duty by not considering the impact that this large number of racist and Islamophobic prisoners had on Awale and other Muslim and non-white prisoners.
Awale will now receive damages as a result of his treatment on these units, the amount of which will be decided at a later date. This judgment is a real victory for him and others challenging the prison system from inside.
FRFI readers will be familiar with Kevan Thakrar, and the judicial review that he has brought against being held in solitary confinement. Kevan has yet to hear the outcome of his case, despite being heard some three months before Fuad Awale’s case. However the two cases are almost identical, and the judgment brings hope to Kevan and those kept in similar conditions and shines a light on prison officers’ collusion with racist prisoners to create untenable conditions for Muslims and people of colour held in these units.
Rose Mackenzie Lewis
