Prison officials are accused of blocking a mother, jailed for a social media post, from seeing her daughter. The alleged reasons include concerns about public interest and media attention surrounding her case.
The mother, Connolly, is believed to have qualified for an enhanced regime, but her application for temporary release was delayed pending a risk assessment. Her ineligibility for home detention curfew, unlike fellow inmates convicted of more serious offenses, is highlighted.
Connolly is appealing her sentence, arguing that the judge miscategorized her offense, leading to a longer sentence than warranted. Her barrister will argue that mitigating factors, including an unblemished record and messages expressing remorse, weren't given enough weight.
The case raises serious questions about the fairness and transparency of the prison system's decision-making, especially regarding parental rights and the impact of media attention on the application of justice.
It is believed Connolly has qualified for an enhanced regime, a reward for good behaviour. Probation documents suggest her application for release on temporary licence at her previous prison, HMP Peterborough, was delayed until a risk assessment was done.
One internal note said: “It is not necessarily going to happen due to the public interest.” Another said: “The media interest has been raised as an issue in terms of any future ROTL applications.”
Connolly is also not automatically eligible for home detention curfew, where prisoners can be released as little as a fifth of the way through their sentences by being placed on electronic GPS tags with restrictions on the times they can leave their home.
Offenders convicted of racially aggravated offences are excluded from home detention curfew unless they can show there are exceptional circumstances to override the ban.
However, two fellow inmates who applied for home detention curfew at the same time as Connolly have been granted the right to go home on tags, despite both having been jailed for causing death by dangerous driving.
Connolly is also seeking to appeal against her sentence, with a hearing due on May 15. Adam King, her barrister, is expected to argue that the judge miscategorised her offence, with a sentence wrongly based on intending to incite serious violence.
This meant she received a longer sentence than she should have done. If it had been “correctly” categorised under Sentencing Council guidelines, she could have been jailed for less than two years, which would have made her eligible for a suspended prison sentence.
Mr King will also argue that the judge failed to give sufficient weight to mitigating factors.
These included an unblemished record, positive good character references, messages that she also sent saying violence was not the answer, that she deleted the post in three and a half hours and her emotional sensitivity to children’s deaths after the loss of her 19-month old son in a major hospital blunder 10 years earlier.
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