Tommy Robinson has lost a bid to bring a High Court challenge over his segregation in prison.
Mr Justice Chamberlain has refused permission for the far-right activist’s application for a judicial review after he brought legal proceedings against Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood.
The High Court was told Robinson, 42, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was moved to a “closed” unit at Woodhill prison, Milton Keynes, after intelligence suggested he “would be killed by a lifer if located on a wing”.
He was jailed for 18 months last October after admitting 10 breaches of a High Court injunction, which banned him from repeating false claims about a Syrian refugee.
Robinson was initially taken to Belmarsh prison, in southeast London, where he told staff of “his conflict is with followers of Islam”.
But he was moved to Woodhill after “a large volume of abusive and racist emails and telephone calls were received from his supporters,” according to the judgment.
They included “threats towards the governor”, Jenny Louis, who is a black woman, the judge said.
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Robinson’s lawyers argued his segregation was a breach of his rights under the European Convention on Human Rights and has caused an “evident decline in his mental health”.
His barrister Alisdair Williamson KC said the “significant Muslim population” in Woodhill appears to be “causing a difficulty” and argued he should be moved to another jail, where he could associate with other prisoners ahead of his release on 26 July.
He said Robinson, who he described as a journalist, suffered from ADHD and complex post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) first triggered by his solitary confinement during an earlier prison sentence.
Mr Williamson said that Robinson is worried about his mental health on his release because “he self-harms by abusing substances in order to cope with the stress caused by being held in solitary confinement”.
But Tom Cross, representing the government, said it was “not an arguable claim” and revealed details of the privileges enjoyed by Robinson, who is a Category C civil prisoner, behind bars.
Hundreds of emails, dozens of visits and 1,250 phone calls
Prison governor Nicola Marfleet said in a statement he gets three hours out of his cell every day – when he can exercise, use the gym or play recreational games such as pool – and another 2 hours and 45 minutes three times a week when he does painting and decorating work.
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She said he has “significantly more visit time than any other prisoner”, with two hours, four times a week, in a room described as “more informal and comfortable”, where he can take in food he’s bought from the canteen.
Robinson has 120 people on his visitors list and has had 93 visits, while he can use the phone for four hours a day and has made more than 1,250 social calls.
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He has a television, laptop – on which he receives emails “in their hundreds” – a CD player and a DVD player in his cell, the court heard.
Robinson also attends a weekly bible session and has daily visits from a member of the chaplaincy team and daily visits from an NHS doctor or nurse.
‘Not solitary confinement’
In a ruling, stating Robinson’s case was “not arguable”, the judge said: “It is not accurate to refer to Mr Yaxley-Lennon’s regime as ‘solitary confinement’ at all.”
He accepted the “absence of association with other prisoners has an effect on his mental health” but said it was “not arguable that the regime as a whole gives rise to a breach” of his human rights.
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In written submissions, the judge was told after his transfer to Woodhill, Robinson was identified as being of “high interest” to other prisoners and was put in a closed wing at the back of the segregation unit, which can’t be accessed by other inmates.
Intelligence reports suggested two other prisoners were plotting to attack Robinson to gain “kudos and notoriety”, and that he had a “mark on his head” and “would be killed by a lifer if located on a wing”, according to the submissions.
The governor also feared Robinson’s presence on a normal wing would “exacerbate” tensions between Muslim and non-Muslim prisoners and that he may “pose a risk by seeking to radicalise and/or influence other prisoners,” according to her statement.
