The objective was to discuss, at the highest political level, the findings of the CPT’s recent visit to the United Kingdom from 13 to 23 May, notably issues concerning violence, segregation, the use of force and means of restraint in local male prisons and juvenile detention establishments.

The CPT’s representatives met with the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, David Gauke, the Minister of State for Prisons and Probation, Robert Buckland and the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Edward Argar. It also met with the Chief Executive Officer of Her Majesty’s Prisons and Probation Service (HMPPS), Jo Farrar and the Executive Director of Prisons, Phil Copple and with other senior officials from HMPPS, the Youth Custody Service and the Ministry of Justice.

In addition, the delegation held meetings with the Chair, Robert (Bob) Neill, and members David Hanson, Victoria Prentis and Marie Rimmer of the House of Commons Justice Select Committee, as well as with Lord Woolf and Baroness Hamwee of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights.

The CPT was represented by Mark Kelly, 1st Vice-President of the CPT and Therese Rytter, 2nd Vice-President of the CPT and by Hugh Chetwynd (Head of Division) and Francesca Gordon of the CPT's Secretariat.