[2010] EWHC 2522 (Admin)

Whilst a prison governor, adjudicating a disciplinary charge laid against an inmate, was not an "independent tribunal" for the purposes of the European Convention on Human Rights 1950 art.6(1), the power of the High Court to judicially review a governor's decision to impose cellular confinement was sufficient to meet the requirements of art.6(1) in relation to the disciplinary proceedings as a whole. There was a need for a special disciplinary regime for the sake of timely and convenient disposal of disciplinary issues in prisons, and it would confound reason, common sense and proportionality to require that whenever an inmate disputed a charge of disobedience, a special adjudicator should be appointed to decide the issue.

QBD (Admin) (Pitchford LJ, Maddison J)

13/10/2010