David Lammy seeking to limit access to article 8 rights for some violent prisoners
February 2026
David Lammy, the Secretary of State for Justice, is proposing to establish Supermax style prison units similar to that established in the USA. In addition, he wants to limit the applicability of the ECHR article 8 rights to those prisoners. The supermax prison in Florence, Colorado has been criticised by human rights groups including Amnesty: “The US government’s callous and dehumanising practice of holding prisoners in prolonged solitary confinement in the country’s only federal super-maximum security prison amounts to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and is in violation of international law“.
‘Not designed for humanity’
The inhuman nature of the facility is encapsulated in this quote from Howstuffworks:
“The only time that inmates are allowed out of their cells is for an hour of exercise. Handcuffed and shackled at their feet, inmates are either led to an empty room with a single pull-up bar, or taken outside to the yard, where they are locked alone inside a caged pen.
“Robert Hood, a former warden at the ADX told The New York Times that the ADX was “not designed for humanity. When it’s 23 hours a day in a room with a slit of a window where you can’t even see the Rocky Mountains — let’s be candid here. It’s not designed for rehabilitation. Period. End of story.””
A report was published ‘Independent Review of Separation Centres‘ by Jonathan Hall KC into separation in prisons which contains a section reporting on his visit to the facility in Colorado. He was not given full access which might explain his rather benign view of the facility and contrasts markedly with the above extract. He does not address or even seem to be aware of the inhuman nature of the prison and its dreadful effects on inmates.
Lammy is concerned at the prospects of article 8 rights being applied if such units are established. Article 8 is the respect for family and private life and part 2 of the article limits public authorities from interference with these rights except for the prevention of disorder or crime or for the protection of others (that is prison officers). Clearly, by establishing any facility remotely like the inhuman system operating in the US would almost certainly lead to legal protests and action.
British prisons are in a state of almost permanent crisis. According to the Howard League for Penal Reform, we currently have 87,249 incarcerated [accessed 4 February], the higher per capita total in Europe. Many of the prisons are decrepit, suffering severe infestations and prisons are often confined to their cells for 23 hours a day. Recidivism is 28.9% [Government figures – January to March 2024] with those serving sentences of less than 12 months having a rate of 66%. Numerous reports conclude the system is not working.
The proposal has raised serious concerns although the idea has received strong support from the shadow justice secretary Mr Nick Timothy (Con) who wants the UK to leave the ECHR altogether. There are issues of how to handle dangerous prisoners who pose a risk to those whose duty is to guard them. Copying the inhuman US system is not an answer. The chief executive of the Howard League has pointed out that it is not necessary to impose such levels of inhuman conditions and this was not recommended by the report.
Another concern is that limiting the application of ECHR rights might be followed by other proposals by one government or another, all of whom would like to see us leave the Convention. Perhaps we should ponder Dostoevsky who observed the degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.
Amnesty in Salisbury & South Wiltshire 
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