ABSTRACT
Twelve years ago in this journal Viviane Treacy (1989) predicted a conflict between the common law and the European Convention on Human Rights over the issue of prisoners’ rights. At fint glance this view was a pessimistic one, as we now have legislation that requires English judges to pay heed to the Convention in their deliberations (Human Rights Act 1998). Two Court of Appeal decisions immediatel)’ prior to the enacting of the legislation (R v. SSHD ex parte O’Dhuibhir [1997] (unreported) CA Transcript 383; Rv. SSHD ex parte Simms, ex parte Main [1998] 2 All ER 4 91) however suggest that the impact of the Act in prisoners’ cases will be limited. Furthermore these two cases are an indication of a retreat from a position where our courts acknowledged prisoners as having positive legal rights. This article attempts an explanation of this b)’ tracing the development of prison law and prisoners’ rights in the last 20 years.
