Court to Hear Unlawful Solitary Confinement Challenge from Kevan Thakrar

Hidden within High Security Prisons in England are Supermax facilities which are known as the Close Supervision Centre (CSC) system, and are relatively unknown to all except those who are made to suffer detention within them. In 1998, on the recommendation of the then middle manager Michael Spurr, the Secretary of State enabled the creation of the CSC system to satisfy Spurr’s sadistic desires to oppress. The CSC system was purportedly created to keep prisoners who were deemed unmanageable out of long-term solitary confinement, and to abolish the so-called merry go-round process of transferring these prisoners from one segregation unit to another, yet since the beginning it has been criticised of doing exactly this but even more harshly than before. 

In March 2010, I was removed from the main prison population and relocated into the CSC system under Prison Rule 46. Since then, I have spent some 11-years in complete solitary confinement, with the other five-years in small group isolation where I have been able to mix with between one and seven other prisoners. The periods of solitary confinement have always lasted for at least months at a time, the longest of which totalled some 36-months straight, and have never come with any real reasoning but have always appeared calculated to psychologically break me. Sometimes these periods have occurred within CSC units themselves, but others have taken place in ordinary segregation units which are designed for the punishment of prisoners for a limited and specified amount of days only. 

When I was removed from the CSC Unit at HMP Full Sutton in April 2021, during the height of the COVID lockdown, and told this was allegedly due to me ‘not engaging with psychology’ who had suspended all contact since the lockdown began, I decided I had had enough of the lies and unofficial punishments being used as psychological warfare against me. I began a Judicial Review (JR) against the routine and indefinite use of solitary confinement against CSC prisoners, which in April 2023 finally made its way to court to be heard in front of a judge. 

Because of this JR, the prison service agreed to return me to a CSC unit where I could potentially associate with others anticipating their unlawful actions up until that point would no longer be permissible. Not long after the case was heard, I was duly relocated to the CSC Unit at HMP Manchester from the Segregation Unit at HMP Belmarsh, to await the forthcoming judgment. Regulations state that a JR judgment must be given within three-months of the final hearing in the case, but after a year with no sign of one coming the

CSC management got brave and returned me to solitary confinement within the Segregation Unit of HMP Whitemoor, where I remain. 

Left with no choice but to formally complain about the judge sabotaging this JR and wait for action to be taken against her, she was finally reprimanded and so produced the judgment after 21-months to keep her job. The only problem with this is that what she produced is total garbage, effectively authorising permanent solitary confinement in complete contradiction of the law and any basic standards of humanity. Obviously this is not something I can accept, and so I quickly launched an appeal against her ruling. 

Due to the unavailability of the lawyer representing the prison service, the earliest this JR appeal could be heard is the 3rd and 4th of March 2026. Until the judgment from this appeal is published, I will likely continue to remain within solitary confinement which at the time of the hearing will have already been the case for 22-months consecutively, despite the United Nations Nelson Mandela Rules prohibiting such conditions for any more than 15-days. 

When corrupt judges colllude with the prison service to enable them to persist committing inhumane treatment amounting to torture, it is essential that this be challenged and exposed so it no longer be allowed to remain hidden behind the walls. To help shine the light necessary to cause this JR appeal to reach the only morally correct judgment, please share this article as widely as possible as well as doing whatever you can to attend the court and show your support; I hope to see you there. 

Kevan Thakrar 

This case is due to be heard on the 3rd and 4th of March 2026 at: 

Court of Appeal Civil Division 

Royal Courts of Justice 

The Strand 

London 

WC2A 2LL 

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As well as suffering from a miscarriage of justice having been convicted under the controversial and discredited legal doctrine of joint enterprise, Kev is one of the 50-men within English prisons to be detained within the Close Supervision Centre (CSC) system under

Rule 46 of the Prison Rules 1999. When the Segregation Units disappear people, the CSC is where they end-up. This is the front-line in the battle against state violence where you must resist or capitulate, and Kev more than any other continues in the struggle as a champion of the people. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture has raised the conditions of his detention with the government and he has taken a judicial review of the policy of allowing indefinite segregation which enables his ongoing solitary confinement, the appeal for which is due to be heard at the Court of Appeal on the 3rd and 4th of March 2026. 

Please help combat his isolation and help him endure the state inflicted torture by writing to him at: 

KEVAN THAKRAR A4907AE 

HMP Whitemoor 

Longhill Road 

March 

PE15 0PR 

Cards can be sent to him via WWW.FUNKYPIDGEON.COM and it is also possible to email Kev using WWW.EMAILAPRISONER.COM. Read more from and about Kev on WWW.JUSTICEFORKEVAN.ORG.