Free David Ferguson

Help to right a grave miscarriage of justice....

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Blog entry 13th November 2015

Despite the new forensic report which called for re-testing of the key forensic samples and the disclosure of several withheld evidence items for testing; and the new information that verifies my alibi having been sent to the barrister in early September we are still waiting for his new instructions! Of course, within a few weeks my solicitor will be using the Christmas shut-down as an excuse for further delays. It is lethargy of this sort that results in those of us who are wrongly convicted spending decades in prison for crimes that we did not commit.

Earlier this year I wrote to the Justice Minister (Michael Gove) raising concerns about HMP Wakefield's Head of Reducing Re-offending position of obstructing all of us who were studying for Open University degrees. This was despite another prisoner and I winning a landmark case against the prison on 2011. A recent Freedom of Information Act request has revealed that the obstructions imposed at HMP Wakefield on those pursuing OU education have led to all abandoning their studies.

Despite the Justice Minister having used the media to proclaim he would put education at the forefront of rehabilitation, he has ignored both my own and other former HMP Wakefield OU students' letters trying to draw his attention to this worrying state of affairs. It is therefore apparent that Mr Gove's posturing over education in prisons through the media is nothing more than a smokescreen of deception. Meanwhile, those of us who wished to do something meaningful and worthwhile whilst held at HMP Wakefield are having our legal right to improve ourselves through higher education denied.