Defendants to attend court hearings…from prison

Tuesday 07 May 2019

Defendants in custody will now be able to attend court hearings from prison via a video link, rather than being transported to court, in a move hoped to speed up the justice process.

Following extensive work involving the Prison Service, Magistrate’s Court and the Judicial Greffe, a new digital court system has been implemented in the Magistrate’s Court to assist with court appearances and liaisons with lawyers.

Officials said they hope this will reduce the risks associated with transporting prisoners to and from court and freeing up police officers for other duties when they would otherwise be accompanying defendants, while also reducing the time and cost of legal visits with defendants in prison.

Pictured: The initiative involved collaboration between the Magistrate's Court, Prison Service and Judicial Greffe.

The main benefit, however, is the potential speedier resolution of cases for victims, witnesses and defendants.

The digital initiative comes as part of a wider drive to ensure all of the island’s courts have video facilities – something particularly important when witnesses are outside of the island. 

In order to appear digitally, rather than in court, prisoners will have to give their consent. 

Officials said video links will only be used in “non-contentious” cases, and not ones requiring the defendant to be physically present in court such as bail applications or trials.  

Pictured: Video links will save the time of Police, who are required to accompany prisoners during court appearances.

Describing the initiative as “exciting”, Prison Governor Nick Cameron said the changes will “allow the justice system to modernise and maximise the use of available technology to achieve efficiencies.” 

Court Service Chief Operating Officer, James Lambert, added: “This project has been part of a wider initiative to provide video linking facilities in all of Jersey’s courts. It is important to enable people who are not in the Island to participate in court hearings (for example, expert witnesses), it will also be of huge benefit in the future to have internal links to the Police, Customs and Immigration, and the Prison. 

“I am pleased that this first live use of a link to the Prison has been successful.”