Report of the Zahid Mubarek Inquiry (Vols. 1 and 2)

Report of the Zahid Mubarek Inquiry (Vols. 1 and 2)
Author: Zahid Mubarek Inquiry
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Total Pages: 716
Release: 2006-06-29
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0102938792

This report sets out the findings of the public inquiry into the murder in March 2000 at Feltham Young Offender Institution of Zahid Mubarek, an Asian teenager. Mubarek died after being attacked by another young prisoner, his cellmate Robert Stewart, who had a history of violence and racist behaviour. The report identifies the systemic shortcomings which the attack exposed and makes 88 recommendations to reduce the risk of such an attack in the future. Issues discussed include: the events leading up to the public inquiry, including previous investigations by the Prison Service and the Commission for Racial Equality; the mental health background and custodial history of Stewart; the events on the night of the attack; and the wider ongoing problems at Feltham of staff shortages and low staff morale, lack of resources and overcrowding; poor working practices and evidence of racism by staff and prisoners. Recommendations made include: the elimination of enforced cell-sharing should be a high priority for the Prison Service and it should publish guidelines to assist officers in the allocation of prisoners who have to share a cell, taking into account issues of ethnic and religious background; there should be a general rule that an unconvicted prisoner should not share a cell with a convicted prisoner; full cell searches should be carried out at least once every three months; prisoner councils should be set up as part of violence reduction strategies in prisons; improved diversity training for prison staff; and the need for a national database for security information on prisoners to improve the flow of information between and within establishments to help prisoner risk assessment procedures.

Principles of Good Governance and the Ombudsman

Principles of Good Governance and the Ombudsman
Author: Alberto Castro
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2019
Genre: Ombudspersons
ISBN: 9781780687803

The main purpose of this study is to determine the extent to which, through the performance of (indirect) normative functions and the application of principles of good governance as assessment standards, the ombudsman institution can contribute to improving the legal quality of the government while enhancing the legitimacy of the administration and the democratic system as a whole.The study is conducted from a comparative perspective, exploring the performance of the Dutch, UK, Spanish and Peruvian Ombudsmen. They are analysed with the aim to determine how far these ombudsmen, although of different types and belonging to different legal traditions, share the same values and apply similar normative standards that can be traced back to principles of good governance. The Peruvian ombudsman is examined as a case study of the institutions evolving role in new democracies in Latin America. This reflects the wider process of the ombudsman 's hybridisation worldwide, and how its functions and assessment standards have been adapted to the evolution of the constitutional state, not least through application of the principles of good governance, which operate at the constitutional level, as a new source of legitimacy.By primarily focusing on the steering function regarding the promotion of good administration rather than the protective function of the institution, the study concludes that the ombudsmans activities result in changed and improved public administration, which are often underappreciated in the legal literature. The legal approach to good governance provides the conceptual framework for evaluating the performance of the institution.