The Legal Ombudsman
The Legal Ombudsman: is it an effective complaints body? In nearly every prison, the same story can be heard over and over. Prisoners have been badly let down by their legal team on legal aid. In numerous cases, the accused had been persuaded by the barristers who came on the scene either the day before the hearing or a short time before the hearing, with a complete lack of understanding of the accused’s situation. The easy way out is to persuade the accused to plead guilty even though the person was innocent, in the expectation that the accused would get a reduced or suspended sentence. This very rarely happens and it is usually too late, and the accused becomes a prisoner.
In anger and bewilderment, the prisoner takes it out on the officers or gets involved in the consumption of illegal substances which are always available, and very much to the detriment of prisoners.
In order to make a complaint about the legal representation, one must first make the complaint to the barrister or the solicitor, where they have eight weeks to respond. This process takes time, cutting into the time required by the Ombudsman to consider a complaint within a one-year deadline. Ultimately, after having received the final response as required for the complaint to proceed with reasons as to why the prisoner is not satisfied, the Ombudsman usually acknowledges the letter but states that it will not be considered until after about eight weeks due to the high volume of correspondence.
The process then involves allocation to a caseworker, which can take several months. The Ombudsman usually keeps in contact by saying that complaints made several months before, or even more than a year before, are being considered and he would like to know whether the prisoner still wishes to pursue the complaint. In my situation, more than two years has gone by, and the Ombudsman is still trying to allocate my complaint to a caseworker and wanting to know whether I still want to pursue the complaint.
I have changed prisons a few times and I promptly informed the Ombudsman of my change of address on three occasions. The address has not been amended so far and neither has any progress been made with the complaint. What is the point of these people?
The foreshortened consultation time, is confirmed by outside Barristers’ tell-all books as being real enough. So, how best to deploy the evidence of your innocence, and sink any unfair accusations, – could have occupied your mind beforehand? Was any police interview done fairly under PACE? Did you choose to use the legal adviser, your right on being arrested? Is your own confession deficient in some way? Do you know what a helpful McKenzie Friend is? I’m humbly suggesting collecting everything in your mind, before a Barrister shows up.