R (on the application of Shutt & Tetley) v Secretary of State for Justice [2012] EWHC 851 (Admin)

Citation: R (on the application of Shutt & Tetley) v Secretary of State for Justice [2012] EWHC 851 (judgment can be found here:

http://www.prisons.org.uk/sandt.pdf)

Court: Administrative Court (High Court, Queen's Bench Division).

Decision

It was held in R (on the application of Shutt & Tetley) v Secretary of State for Justice [2012] EWHC 851 that a local Incentives and Earned Privileges Policy ("IEP") policy which precluded individuals who maintained their innocence from ever achieving "Enhanced" level on the scheme was unlawful.

This means that IEP policies must be drafted in such a way that prisoners who deny their offending should not automatically be excluded from gaining Enhanced status by virtue of their denial. In other words, a blanket ban is unlawful.

It should be noted however that in Shutt & Tetley, no injustice was found to these particular claimants themselves. This was for the following reasons:

1. The claimants were later assessed for the Sex Offender Treatment Programme and found suitable but not ready for the course, because of their denial and;
2. The claimants' OASys reports indicated that nothing more pressing needed to be done.