Quarantining of prisoners in solitary confinement at Jurby jail is ’cruel and degrading’ and potentially unlawful, an island advocate believes.

Isle of Man Prison is in lockdown in response to the Covid crisis.

Since the end of March, all new arrivals at the jail have had to spend their first 14 days confined to their cells on B-wing which has been turned into an isolation wing. Some 20 to 30 inmates have been housed there in that time.

Advocate Ian Kermode has written to the UK Secretary of State for Justice Robert Buckland and Amnesty International accusing the Manx prison authorities of human rights breaches.

The UK is responsible for ensuring the ’good governance’ of the Isle of Man.

Mr Kermode’s legal practice has represented a number of defendants who have been remanded in custody or jailed over the last month and he says there are consistent accounts about their treatment.

He said each client has described conditions on the isolation wing as ’cruel and degrading’ and have requested their plight be publicised as a ’matter of legitimate and pressing public interest’.

Their claims have been denied by prison authorities who insist there is no infringement of human rights obligations and that the inmates have access to telephones calls, showers, changes of clothes and exercise, albeit while confined to their cell.

But Mr Kermode claimed: ’Our clients on the isolation wing, to date, have been denied access to showers, are not allowed any phone calls to family or friends (only to legal representatives via a mobile phone brought to the cell; in person visits from advocates and video links with advocates having been denied) nor allowed any form of exercise.

’Detainees on the isolation wing are given all their food for the day in one single delivery late morning consisting of a cooked lunch together with a cold snack for the evening and breakfast for the next day.

’They have not been provided with potable water, having to drink water instead from the wash hand basin in their cells. In effect, our clients have each been detained in their cells 24/7.’

Mr Kermode claimed these procedures apparently apply to all detainees, both male and female - and irrespective of whether they have been convicted and sentenced or remanded in custody prior to entering pleas.

’It is of particular concern that those persons who have been remanded in custody but not yet convicted of any criminal offence are subject to such conditions,’ said the advocate.

Mr Kermode said the denial of exercise, telephone calls to family and access to a shower are potentially serious infringements of his clients’ legal rights and could mean the Manx authorities are subjecting its own citizens to inhuman or degrading treatment contrary to their human rights. No emergency can justify trampling over hard won absolute human rights, especially the right not to be subject to inhuman and degrading treatment,’ he said.

Some have long-standing mental health issues, he said, and have described the solitary confinement as causing them to feel ’tormented’.

When one was asked if he was able to speak to other inmates on the isolation wing he said he had not been allowed out of his cell, adding: ’I only hear them screaming and crying. We are so lonely because we can’t talk to anybody.’

Prisoners on the other wings of the jail continue to be allowed daily exercise, showers and have phone calls to friends and family.

One of those who Mr Kermode represented in court this week was George Maclaren, who was jailed for eight weeks for breaching emergency powers and resisting arrest.

The court heard that since being held on remand, Maclaren had been locked up for 24 hours a day and had not had access to exercise, phone calls or a shower.

Defence advocate Louise Cooil, representing another Covid breach case, told the court: ’It has been difficult to speak to clients as the prison has not been facilitating video links.’

But in a statement, the Department of Home Affairs described Mr Kermode’s claims as ’quite simply wrong and an inaccurate portrayal of the prison’.

A spokesman said: ’The governor has at all times acted to ensure the safety of everyone in the prison.

risk

’We don’t comment on individual offenders, but we can say that we have acted to reduce the risk from Covid-19 positive prisoners to other prisoners and officers within the prison with the simple aim to keep people alive.

’All offenders have been offered access to showers, association and contact as per the custody rules.’

The DHA claimed prisoners are allowed a shower on arrival at the jail. They are entitled to one shower a week but are offered two. They are given three sets of clothing on reception.

Inmates have access to telephone calls to contact family and advocates. And while it is not possible to exercise in the open air during their 14 days in isolation, they are given activity packs so they can exercise in their cells. They also have a television set.

Meanwhile, civil liberties campaigners from Big Brother Watch have also condemned the treatment of those caught breaching Covid-19 restrictions.

It says people are being criminalised for activities that were perfectly legal and normal until a few weeks ago, such as visiting friends.

More than 40 people were arrested in the island over a two-week period for breaching Covid regulations, and at least 17 have been jailed or remanded. They include a homeless person and an individual with substance abuse issues.

’Vulnerable and marginalised members of the community are bearing the brunt of enhanced police powers,’ it said.