Double Jeopardy - The Law and Politics Podcast Double Jeopardy Podcast

In this episode of Double Jeopardy Ken Macdonald and Tim Owen talk to Mark Fairhurst, National Chairman of the Prison Officers Association, about the long standing and apparently never ending crisis afflicting the UK prison system.



This episode presents an in-depth discussion on the overcrowding epidemic and its root causes including the tabloid driven addiction to ever longer sentences and the failure of all Governments to develop and promote community based alternatives to custody.  The result is that the UK has the highest per capita rate of imprisonment in Western Europe and a disastrous record of re-offending.



From overcrowding to under-resourced prisons, private versus public prisons, the genuine threat of violent riots over the summer, the role of the Chief Inspectorate of Prisons, restoring the right to strike to prison officers and sentencing policy, the trio discuss them all with a central theme being the need to reimagine the prison service to prioritise rehabilitation and the reintegration of offenders into society.

They also cover issues related to funding and resource allocation within the UK's criminal justice system and the constant struggle for resources which has led to staff shortages, reduced training opportunities, and minimal investment in infrastructure.

Finally Ken, Tim & Mark look at the potential path to reform, and strategies that can be vital to the much-needed change such as reshaping sentencing policies, enhancing rehabilitation programs, and investing in community-based alternatives to imprisonment.

Ken Macdonald and Tim Owen welcome back Angus McCullough KC, who has extensive experience in public and private law and who was the most experienced Special Advocate until his decision to step down in October 2023 in protest at the Government's failure to implement urgent changes to the system of secret justice (as recommended in December 2022 by the former High Court Judge Sir Duncan Ouseley).

This episode is dedicated to discussing the controversy surrounding the Closed Material Procedure (CMP) introduced by the Justice and Security Act 2013. The debate this law sparked around the management of sensitive information during civil proceedings and the balance between national security and fairness/openness is once again highly topical.  Angus's decision to refuse to take on any new closed material cases has now been followed 8 months later by some 25 other Special Advocates (including 16 KCs), a decision which leaves the entire system for litigating national security cases in crisis. Unless and until this specialist cohort of barristers are willing to accept new cases, the system will grind to a halt.

Ken, Tim and Angus discuss the future of CMP’s, Sir Duncan Ouseley’s independent review, the underfunded justice system, and Labour's depressing response to the prisons crisis as reflected in Keir Starmer's stance in PMQs and Shabana Mahmood's public commitment to building more prisons rather than ending the UK's addiction to imprisonment.

Ken Macdonald and Tim Owen speak to Jessica Simor KC, an acclaimed specialist in public and regulatory law, EU law, competition law and human rights law. 

 

The episode discusses the issue of whether litigation, whether before the European Court of Human Rights or domestic courts can be effective in addressing the challenge presented by climate change. They highlight two landmark cases in which Jessica Simor acted - one against the Swiss government and one against the UK government. The Swiss case saw a group of elderly Swiss women, bringing the case that they suffered personal health issues caused by heatwaves, and used litigation to hold their government accountable for climate change. 

 

Tim and Ken further explore the UK case in the High Court in London recently which was brought by Friends of the Earth, Client Earth and the Good Law Project. Mr Justice Sheldon found the government was found to be falling short in meeting its obligations under the Climate Change Act 2008. The judicial review judgement held that the government had breached its duty under the Climate Change Act 2008 to adopt policies and proposals to enable legally binding carbon reduction targets to be met. Both cases marked a significant victory for climate activists.

 

A great episode around the urgency of combating climate change, the pressure on national governments for climate action and the influence of the Paris agreement on court decisions.

Ken Macdonald and Tim Owen react to the passage of the ‘Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Act 2024' with Jonathan Jones KC, former Head of the Government Legal Department and Senior Consultant in Public and Constitutional Law at Linklaters.

In his first broadcast interview, Ken Macdonald and Tim Owen discuss fraud, whistleblowers and disclosure with new Director of the Serious Fraud Office, Nick Ephgrave QPM.

Ken Macdonald and Tim Owen discuss Boris Johnson and the degradation of the British State with author of ‘Downward Spiral’, John Bowers KC.