QUAKERS have urged the Prisons Minister, Lord Timpson, to intervene in the case of Gaie Delap, 77, who was sentenced to 20 months for a climate protest on the M25 in November 2022, and released this month to serve the remaining four-and-a-half months of her sentence on home detention.
She was then recalled to HM Prison Peterborough because the Electronic Monitoring Service (EMS), which operates the electronic-tagging service, on contract to the Ministry of Justice, could not fit the appropriate size of curfew tag.
The Prisoners Advice Service says that emergency-recall procedures for those on determinate sentences can be used if there is imminent risk of serious harm or of reoffending; “where a person has breached the conditions of their licence”, or where their behaviour indicates that they present “an increased or unmanageable” risk to the public.
Referring to fitting the tag, EMS guidance says: “We will take an accurate measurement to make sure the tag fits your ankle correctly. We are not allowed to fit a tag that is a different size to our measurement.”
Gaie Delap, who is attached to the Redland Meeting, in Bristol, is among dozens of Quakers prosecuted for trying to draw attention to climate change since the Police, Crime and Sentencing Act was passed in April 2022. She was one of six Just Stop Oil protesters who climbed the gantry over the M25 to protest at further oil exploration in the UK.
Quakers say that the case underscores fears about the effect of increasingly strict protest laws on human rights. A recent study by the University of Bristol concluded that the criminalisation and repression of climate and environmental protest represented “authoritarian moves that are not consistent with the ideals of vibrant civil societies in liberal democracies”.
The head of witness and worship for Quakers in Britain, Oliver Robertson, said of Gaie Delap’s situation: “We would be grateful if Prisons Minister James Timpson would intervene to find a common-sense solution that keeps this non-violent citizen out of our overcrowded prisons.”
Gaie Delap’s curfew conditions reportedly prevent her speaking directly to the media. Her brother, Mick, told The Guardian: “This is very cruel. Gaie is sitting at home terrified, with a suitcase packed, waiting for a knock on the door from police. She’s been unable to eat or sleep because of this. She’s hoping against hope that sense can prevail and that she won’t have to go back to jail.”
He told the paper that his sister had various health problems, and continued to have no feeling in one finger after being handcuffed for a hospital visit during her time in prison. She could not wear an ankle tag because she was at risk of deep-vein thrombosis. She had been told last week that a warrant for her arrest had been issued, and that she was to be returned to prison owing to an “inability to monitor” her.
The same issue with tagging had arisen when she was on bail, when a “doorstep curfew” had been agreed, from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., her brother said. That alternative had not been offered this time. “As family and friends, we are aware of failures in the tagging system, and this case appears to be a miscarriage of justice. We have been in touch with the probation service, who are supportive of Gaie, but we believe the matter has been taken out of their hands,” he said.