‘Here we go again!’ Bartholomew Dalton analyses latest High Court prison habeas corpus case
6 Feb 2025
Serious and General Crime associate Bartholomew Dalton has written a commentary for Criminal Law Week on the latest High Court case of a prisoner being unlawfully detained long after he should have been set free.
In the hitherto unreported matter of Bashir v Governor of HMP Pentonville, the claimant spent 22 hours unlawfully detained in prison. One reason was that Mr Bashir’s sentence (for which he had already served sufficient time on remand) was passed at 4.37pm on a Friday; and ‘the relevant [prison] staff had gone off duty at 4.30pm‘.
Efforts by Mr Bashir’s solicitors to secure their client’s release were “‘fobbed off’ by the prison reception staff”, the High Court heard; necessitating an emergency writ of habeas corpus.
Last year, Bartholomew represented the claimant in the similar matter of Bumju Kim vs the Governor of HMP Wandsworth in which the prison was criticised for treating his complaints of unlawful detention with ‘institutional indifference’. Bartholomew’s client ultimately received damages for his unlawful detention.
Commenting on the Bashir matter for Criminal Law Week, Bartholomew writes: “Here we go again! Yet again, the solicitor’s complaints that their client was being unlawfully detained were not taken seriously and they were fobbed off.
“It is particularly concerning that, despite the clear and strong judgments in the recent cases of Niagui and Kim, HMPPS have been so slow in grasping the importance of not detaining detainees beyond their release point and also in complying with court orders, including writs of habeas corpus.
“Ritchie J was not exaggerating when he said the issue has become “commonplace”. I am aware of at least a further two similar cases awaiting judgments from the High Court and, anecdotally, I am also aware of other similar instances where habeas corpus proceedings were not brought.”
A case summary, and Bartholomew’s full commentary on it, is available to Criminal Law Week subscribers here.
