PRESS RELEASE: VIGIL OUTSIDE APPEAL COURT to keep DANIEL ROQUE HALL out of prison Tuesday 5 February 2013 - 9.30am Royal Courts of Justice, Strand, London, WC2A 2LL   Info: 07958 152 171   Five months after nearly dying in Wormwood Scrubs, Daniel’s appeal against his prison sentence will be heard on Tuesday!  An injunction preventing UCLH from discharging him to Wormwood Scrubs has been in place since 1 January.         This is a significant victory for Daniel, his determined mother and supporters who have been campaigning to save his life, and his dedicated new legal team.   Also as of last night, the two prison guards who have been at Daniel’s bedside 24/7 for five months have been told that they must now remain OUTSIDE his room – some privacy at last!     At the appeal, Daniel will argue that the three year prison sentence he was given was disproportionate and a breach of his human rights given the severity of his disabilities and the risk to his life.  Shamefully, because the Royal Courts of Justice are not accessible enough to allow him to be present in person, Daniel will give evidence by video-link from hospital.  He will argue that Wormwood Scrubs’ claim that it could provide for his complex care needs has been discredited by the neglect that landed him in intensive care after only seven weeks in prison; it has taken five months of specialist care in hospital for him to partially recover.
Daniel Roque Hall	John Podmore, former governor of Brixton prison told The Guardian: "Managing somebody with chronic, advanced ataxia disease in a prison setting would be virtually impossible without bringing in considerable resources or diverting them from somewhere else, and the pressures on a prison hospital in London are considerable and not conducive to an environment required by someone with such a disability . . .”
Social work professionals wrote to the Guardian: “Despite the insistence of the governor, Wormwood Scrubs cannot and will not provide the level of expertise and care he requires. We therefore urge the minister to ensure that Daniel serve the remainder of his sentence at a suitable place of confinement, properly adapted to his needs, or tagged at home.” More Daniel’s mother Anne Hall is leading the campaign to save his life: “UCLH saved my son’s life and I will be eternally grateful to all the wonderful staff who have provided dedicated and expert care to Daniel, day and night.  They could not have done more.  No UK prison can meet his complex care needs. To send him back would amount to a death sentence – he has already been punished far in excess of the three years he was given.”   More publicity here New Year’s Eve – Carers, friends, and supporters gather outside Wormwood Scrubs calling for Daniel to be allowed to serve the rest of his sentence at home.
		DANIEL ROQUE HALL Session: 2012-13  Date tabled: 24.10.2012
John McDonnell MP has tabled an Early Day Motion – 18 MPs have signed it so far. That this House notes that Daniel Roque Hall is a 30-year-old severely disabled man with Friedreich's Ataxia, a multi-system and fatal illness, now so advanced that he cannot use his arms or legs, has blurred vision, damaged speech, heart failure, cardiac arrhythmia and Type 1 diabetes; further notes that he was imprisoned for attempting to bring cocaine into this country, but recognises that, given the seriousness of his condition and the complexity of his care needs, prison is not suitable for him, bearing in mind that seven weeks through his three-year sentence he was taken to hospital where he remains two months later after spending over a week in intensive care; further notes that his mother, his GP, the former HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, Lord Ramsbotham, disability and other organisations, including Ataxia UK, Liberty and WinVisible and over 1,400 people who signed a petition, have warned that a return to prison would amount to a death sentence for him; welcomes the decision of the Secretary of State for the Home Department to stop the extradition of Gary McKinnon because it would subject him to inhuman and degrading treatment and endanger his life; and calls on the Secretary of State to show the same compassion to Daniel Roque Hall by allowing him to serve the rest of his sentence at home, where he can receive the appropriate care and medical support and be supervised by probation services.
For more information contact: Justice for Daniel Roque Hall WinVisible Facebook Global Women’s Strike  www.globalwomenstrike.net   0207 482 2496 Press release Monday 4th February 2013 For immediate use Ed Miliband: I'll be voting for equal marriage in the House of Commons Ed Miliband MP, Leader of the Labour Party, commenting on tomorrow's equal marriage vote, said: "I'll be voting for equal marriage in the House of Commons and I'll be doing so proudly. "I will be doing so in a proud Labour tradition which saw us repeal Section 28, equalise the age of consent, introduce new rules on adoption and introduce civil partnerships. "I'll be voting for equal marriage for a very simple reason: I don't think that the person you love should determine the rights you have. That's why I'll be voting for equal marriage, along with the rest of the shadow cabinet. "I'll be urging other Labour MPs to maximise our vote so that we can get a decisive majority in the House of Commons, it can then pass through the House of Lords and we can get it into legislation. "When we d o, it will be another important step forward in the fight for equality in Britain." Ends.