‘Ghosting’ prisoners and human rights

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/aug/23/ghosting-prisoners-and-human-rights

Version 0 of 1.

Liz Truss, the secretary of state for justice, appears set on confrontation with Muslim prisoners (Prison ‘ghost train’ plan to foil terror plotting, 23 August). What is overlooked is that most prison conversions result not from “extremist” influence but from the fact that Islam provides a clear concept of brotherhood and solidarity in an otherwise gang-ridden environment. You’d think the prospect of a coherent alternative to jail drug culture would be welcome.

Ghosting has long been known to cause psychological damage. It’s also been used as a way of keeping vocal prisoners away from prison inspectors. Ghosting disrupts the maintenance of family ties. In 2002 Paul Day killed himself after being moved for the 35th time.

Ghosting as a practice was condemned by Human Rights Watch as far back as 1992. Yet the government intends to specifically target a group of prisoners with ghosting as a strategy. Ghosting used to be something that happened but senior prison and Home Office staff would pretend to be appalled by. Now we have a minister embracing it as policy.Nick MossLondon

• It was disappointing this week to hear the justice secretary say she still intends to scrap the Human Rights Act because doing so was a manifesto pledge (UK bill of rights will not be scrapped, says Liz Truss, 23 August). That despite the fact that the prime minister has ruled out withdrawal from the European convention on human rights, making any interference with legislation here at best little more than a rebrand, and at worst legally illiterate.

At the end of last year Amnesty commissioned YouGov polling which found that scrapping the Human Rights Act was not something the British public wanted to see as a government priority, with 89% of adults omitting it from what they thought should be the top three government priorities. In addition, the vast majority of people (67%) felt that it shouldn’t be up to politicians to pick and choose which rights we get, and who gets them. There is every reason to think that public scepticism remains unchanged under the current government.

Surely Liz Truss and her colleagues have enough on their plates without this stubborn determination to plough on with ripping up the Human Rights Act regardless of the myriad difficulties it entails, especially just months after it helped bring the Hillsborough families closer to the justice they were so long denied and when scrapping it poses the very real danger of threatening the fragile peace in Northern Ireland.Rachel LoganLegal programme director, Amnesty UK

• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com