A Bristol grandmother sent back to prison before Christmas because the Government couldn’t find an electronic tag small enough for her wrist is set to challenge the decision in the courts, claiming that she’s being discriminated against because she’s a woman.
The Good Law Project is crowdfunding a legal challenge to Gaie Delap’s situation, and is demanding she is released to continue serving the rest of her prison sentence under curfew at home.
The 77-year-old has already spent three months in prison after being jailed back in August, but was released at the end of November to serve the rest of her sentence with a 7pm to 7am curfew, enforced by an electronic tag.
Gaie has a medical condition which means she can’t have an ankle tag. The probation service and the firms it contracts to set up and monitor the electronic tags have a wristband alternative for those situations, but they didn’t have one small enough that would stay on the pensioner’s wrists.
Because the electronic curfew could not be enforced, last Friday she was returned to prison, sparking outrage from her supporters, her local MP Carla Denyer and her legal team. They point out that if she was a man, there would be no problem with a wristband, and she was being actively discriminated against because she’s a woman.
“She’s been carefully abiding by all conditions of her sentence, since she was convicted for peaceful action to protest the climate crisis,” said a spokesperson for the Good Law Project, which has set up a crowdfunder to fund the legal challenge.
“The only reason Gaie has been dragged away from her family is because there isn’t an electronic tag to fit her. Gaie’s deep vein thrombosis means she can’t wear an ankle tag and the Government won’t provide one small enough for her wrists.
“And Gaie isn’t the only one. We’re aware of others who have been recalled to jail just because tags are not being provided for a wide-enough range of people. Through no fault of their own, these offenders are being forced to spend their sentences in our overcrowded prison system just because of the failings of the government. We’re supporting Gaie to fight this cruel decision. She can’t access legal aid, so we need to come together and fund her legal team to fight this, bringing urgent light to an issue that the Ministry of Justice has kept in the dark,” they added.
The 78-year-old was one of a group of climate activists who took part in a direct action protest that blocked the M25 around London in November 2022. Her case eventually came to court and she was convicted and jailed for 20 months in August 2024, almost two years after that day.
She was sent to prison in Peterborough and released on November 18, after serving three-and-a-half months of her sentence in jail. She was ordered to serve the rest of her 20-month sentence with an electronic tag fitted to her to enforce a ‘home detention curfew’ between 7pm and 7am.
The local campaign in Bristol said it had met something of a brick wall trying to find the person responsible in the maze of Government departments and private contracting firms who can find a wristband small enough, or source an alternative, like fingerprint technology.
The Ministry of Justice said on Friday that Gaie Delap would be in prison ‘if no alternative solution is available’, so those campaigning for the 77 year old said they were trying to find one.
“All authorities are shifting responsibility from one to another,” said Mike Campbell, a spokesperson for Gaie’s campaign. “We are going around in circles. And all the time we know there are strap sizes that would fit Gaie. We know too there are alternatives to a tag such as the fingerprint scanners widely used by the UK Home Office for electronic monitoring for the past two years. Why doesn’t the Ministry of Justice know this?
“Gaie Delap has been recalled to prison on the basis that it was not possible to fit a tag to her. She has suffered bilateral deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and swollen ankles, so a tag could not be worn on her ankle. It is regular practice to use electronic tags on wrists, as contracted by the UK Home Office. At 14.5cm circumference Gaie’s wrist is typical for a woman and tags this size have been in common use since before 2011,” he added.
“We are alarmed that it was possible for the officer to act in a way that had a discriminatory effect towards Gaie. Gaie says this is not just about her. She and we are also concerned that there are wider implications for other women who are in the same situation as Gaie. There are women, who are being recalled to prison. This is despite the government’s intention to ease pressure on the prison system, in particular to reduce imprisonment and separation from the family for mothers. In essence, had Gaie been a man she would be spending Christmas at home,” he added.
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