Thanks to Adam Wagner's Twitter feed I noticed a recent ruling relating to whether a prison acted lawfully when it decided not to investigate allegations of sexual assault on a prisoner with learning difficulties. The case, R (NM) v Secretary of State for Justice [2011] EWHC 1816 concerned whether the prison authorities were in breach of theDisability Discrimination Act 1995 and the Equality Act 2010 because they failed to make reasonable adjustments in relation to the investigation of a sexual assault against a prisoner with learning disabilities, NM. It was further considered whether the failure to conduct a formal investigation was in breach of NM's Article 3 rights. The claimant was assisted in bringing his case by the Howard League for Penal Reform. The court found in relation to all points that the defendant had acted lawfully.
I don't want to go into masses of detail about the case, but I did want to flag up a few things about the judgment that might merit further thought for disability rights campaigners.
