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Articles by Dary Makoona
Legal Q&A
Q I would like to know if I am entitled to a solicitor at an adjudication with the governor. I have asked for a solicitor, and I have been refused. Is it true that the governor has deprived me of my legal right to a solicitor? A You ask about your rights when appearing before a governor for an adjudication and in particular whether you have a right to be represented. The law in relation to representation at adjudications has been settled for many years.
Wrongfully released vs unlawfully detained by His Majesty’s Prison
Migrant sex offender Hadush Kebatu was given a 12-month sentence for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman while living in an asylum seeker hotel inEpping. However, he was mistakenly released by HMP Chelmsford. This sparked public outrage, but this is far from an isolated incident. Mistakes on release dates happen quite usually as reported by the Chief Inspector of Prisons.
Legal Q&A
Q I was released on HDC on the 03/06/2024. If successful I would wear it until my conditional release on the 17/01/2025. I was only out for 3 weeks when I was charged with drunk and disorderly and returned to prison. My question is this, because I was on HDC and not on licence can they make me do all my licence? They have given me a recall dossier, although legally I was not on licence but on HDC. They are saying I must serve time until my licence expiry date 17/01/2026. Surely this is wrong.
Criminal Justice Act 2003 (Suitability for Fixed Term Recall) Order 2025 FTR48
On 9 June 2025, FTR48 was laid in Parliament which amended the Criminal Justice Act 2003 in order to change the recall policy. FTR48 dictates that all offenders serving custodial sentences of under four years (subject to exclusions) will only be subject to a 28 day fixed-term recall. Effectively, this abolishes standard recalls for all offenders serving sentences under four years.
Child victim of human trafficking and modern slavery referred to Crown Court
The CCRC has recently put together a casebook of referrals that have been sent to the appeal courts and over the coming months we will be sharing a range of them, both historical and more recent, that may be of interest to you. One of these is a recent referral. It relates to a man’s conviction for producing a controlled Class B drug. The CCRC referred it to the Crown Court based on new evidence that he was a child victim of modern slavery and human trafficking.
OPEN CONDITIONS (D-CAT)
In April 2025, the Government updated its policy to allow prisoners to be considered for open conditions up to five years before their release date or earliest release date. Previously this was limited to three years. This change applies to both Standard Determinate Sentences (SDS) and Extended Determinate Sentences (EDS) but excludes life sentenced/IPP prisoners, for whom open conditions can only be recommended by the Parole Board to the Secretary of State for Justice.
Adjudications (Nickings) - Your Rights
Adjudications, commonly known as ‘nickings’ are the procedures by which offences against the Prison Rules, allegedly having been committed by prisoners, are dealt with. Prior to 31st May 2024, adjudication procedures were governed by PSI 05/2018, but since then, this PSI has been replaced by the Prisoner Discipline Procedures (Adjudications) Policy Framework, issued on 13th May 2024.
SDS40 - The impacts on your liberty
The Criminal Justice Act 2003 (Requisite and Minimum Custodial Periods) Order 2024, commonly known as SDS40, was approved on 29 July 2024. SDS40 provides that prisoners will be automatically released on licence after having served 40% of their sentence instead of 50%. SDS40 applies to standard determinate sentences only and excludes EDS, IPP and Life sentences.
Light at the end of the tunnel - major IPP changes
The much-awaited Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 has finally received Royal Assent and become law. Although IPP sentences were abolished in 2012, as of March 2024 there were a total of 2,795 IPPs in prison, out of which 13 were unreleased/under tariff, 1,166 were unreleased/over tariff, while 1,616 were serving a recall. These figures demonstrate the harshness and inhumane nature of this sentence, sometimes referred to as ‘mental torture’.
Legal Q&A
Q I am from the Irish Traveller community and was born in Southern Ireland. I have asked on several occasions to be transferred back to Ireland to finish my sentence, and I have also asked to be moved to a full VP wing as I would be a lot safer there, but I don’t seem to be getting any help. A Your question raises two issues.
Extended Determinate Sentences
Extended Determinate Sentences (EDS) were introduced as the replacement to the IPP sentence. Since coming into force, this sentence has caused a lot of confusion and frustration. Although EDS are determinate sentences, they are different from normal determinate sentences mainly due to their automatic release dates. Many judges were not familiar with the law relating to these sentences and made incorrect comments at sentence as to how long would be served.
Eagerly anticipated reforms for IPPs … ‘finally light at the end of the tunnel’
IPP sentences were introduced in 2005 with the aim of preventing offenders, considered dangerous, from being released automatically even though the offence did not merit a life sentence. This meant that in order to gain release they had to go through risk assessments with the Parole Board and achieve a release decision from them. They are also subject, essentially, to life licence.
Eagerly anticipated reforms for IPPs … ‘finally light at the end of the tunnel’
IPP sentences were introduced in 2005 with the aim of preventing offenders, considered dangerous, from being released automatically even though the offence did not merit a life sentence. This meant that in order to gain release they had to go through risk assessments with the Parole Board and achieve a release decision from them. They are also subject, essentially, to life licence.
Legal Q&A - insidetime & insideinformation
Q I was awarded £3,300 for sexual assault from the CICA. I was arrested the week after and sent to prison on remand. I replied to a letter from the CICA with my bank details yet after 4 months I have still not received the money. When I called them, they said that I have not been paid because my case is with the police. I was sentenced in September. Please can you advise me as to why I have not received my compensation when the assault happened in 2020?
Legal Q&A - insidetime & insideinformation
Q: I have a query of importance and would like some advice. During structured domestics time I was approached by someone who attends my People Plus maths group. This person verbally accosted me, stating they knew all about my criminal conviction, my proposed release date, and other personal details that ought to be protected under the Data Protection Act. I have never disclosed any of my personal information that is on my prison record, so this must have come from an employee.
Termination of Licence – Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences - insidetime & insideinformation
If you have received a sentence for Public Protection (IPP) you have the right to be considered for termination of this IPP licence 10 years after initial release from custody. This is regardless of whether you have been recalled to prison at any point during the ten year period. Under the new law, which came into effect on 28th June 2022, referrals to the Parole Board are now made automatically by the Secretary of State.
Prioritisation of Offending Behaviour Programmes
During the pandemic, restricted regimes meant that interventions such as Offending Behaviour Programmes (OBPs) were not able to run as usual. This inevitably caused delays to people accessing OBPs on their sentence plan and a backlog for some programmes in certain prisons. During this period, HMPPS introduced ‘Offending Behaviour Programme Prioritisation Principles’ to help decide who of the people waiting for a particular programme would be offered a space first.
GBH - but how much harm?
Cases where judges may have passed the wrong sentence are referred by CCRC to Court of Appeal The CCRC have sent three interesting cases back to the appeal court in the last month. We have provided an overview of them below. We have sent two sentence cases to the Court of Appeal that were factually unrelated but shared a common ground. Mr B Mr B pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent under Section 18 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861.
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