Prison ombudsman quits inquiry

Channel 4 News has learnt that Stephen Shaw, the prison and probation ombudsman, has pulled out of chairing an inquiry into the treatment of a young woman who self-harmed while in prison. Mr Shaw accuses the prison service of blocking his probe.

In a forceful letter obtained by Channel 4 News from Mr Shaw to the Prison Service solicitors, he writes:

"I have been saddened by what I regard as the Prison Service's inconsistent approach to this inquiry, by the attempt to dictate how I should conduct the investigation, and by the lack of focus on the core issue: life-threatening self-harm amongst so many young women prisoners."

His inquiry involved the care of SP, as she is known, a serial self-harmer whose self-abuse while in two youth prisons was so severe she was hospitalised repeatedly and nearly died. She was eventually sectioned by her own lawyer and is now held at Rampton secure hospital.

The Howard League fought for the inquiry into what it called the authorities' failure to treat SP's mental health problems and which it hoped would shine a light on the plight of many of the young people in prison.

Frances Crook of the Howard League said:

"They're trying to inhibit the process yet it's an incredibly important inquiry dealing with major issues of national importance. This young girl nearly died, other young girls in similar situations have died.

We've got to stop this happening and the government's got to ensure this inquiry goes ahead properly funded, with judicial oversight."

Of the 3000 children in custody in England and Wales, more than a third are considered vulnerable. Suicide and self-harm are on the up.

Stephen Shaw says he intended to speak to prison staff who care for young women who repeatedly self-harm.

He says he thought the most significant aim of his inquiry was "to help reduce the incidence of life-threatening self-harm amongst young women in custody". But he says those plans were criticised by Prison Service lawyers. He complains that he was asked to put all requests for prison documents through a policy group.

"My terms of reference as Ombudsman guarantee my unfettered access to all Prison Service documents and staff... I doubt the Courts would be impressed by this attempt to determine what an Article 2 compliant investigation should and should not consider.

"Were I continuing this inquiry, I would continue to go direct to source for any information I required," he says.

In sum, Mr Shaw criticises the:

"unwarranted and unacceptable attempt to fetter my independence and to restrict the way i carry out the inquiry.... In the circumstances, I think I should now withdraw...."

The inquiry is now without a chair.

At the time of writing, the Ministry of Justice had not responded to requests from Channel 4 News for a reaction to Mr Shaw's resignation.

Share this article

Send this article to a friend »

• Del.icio.us
• Digg
• Reddit
• Facebook
• StumbleUpon

What are these?