Detainees and control orders
ACTION ALERT: Control orders due for renewal on 1 March 2010
Please write to your MP - see specimen letter
When control orders were introduced, parliamentarians were assured that they would be a temporary measure. Control orders have now been in force for four years and the government has not, as yet, made any indication as to when the policy will end.
Control orders are unfair – they impose a raft of restrictive measures on someone who may never have been charged with an offence. This punishment without trial and without time limit can include house arrest for up to sixteen hours a day, as well as limitations on who you can meet and talk to.
The legislation permitting control orders must be renewed by mid-March or else these unjust powers lapse. Â A vote is to take place on 1st March. Please send a letter to your MP urgently to urge them to vote against renewal.
EMAIL YOUR MP HERE: www.theyworkforyou.com
Specimen letter
Dear [MP's NAME]
CONTROL ORDERS
As you will be aware the government must renew its control order legislation by mid-March or else these unjust powers lapse. I am writing to you to urge to vote against renewal.
When control orders were introduced, parliamentarians were assured that they would be a temporary measure. Control orders have now been in force for four years and the government has not, as yet, made any indication as to when the policy will end. In fact, I understand that the imposition of orders has been recently increased. I am also concerned that the practice of using secret evidence in control order hearings is spreading to other areas of our legal system.
Under the control order scheme those who have never been charged, let alone convicted, of any offence are made subject to a raft of dehumanizing and punitive sanctions. This unjust scheme of indefinite house arrest without trial is grossly unfair, ineffective and potentially counter-productive. As well as undermining the presumption of innocence, control orders also fail to protect the public from individuals who may be genuinely dangerous. Those who may wish to do us harm may easily remove their plastic tags, disappear and do their worst. Already seven suspects on control orders have absconded.
Proper criminal trials and custodial sentences for the guilty have shown to be far more effective at protecting the public than the use of control orders.
There is an inevitable danger that the longer the control order regime stays in place, the easier it is to renew year on year without proper or full consideration of the punishing restrictions imposed on those subject to it. Yet the longer the regime stays on the statute book the greater the harm.