ATTN:

Home Secretary David Blunkett MP
Home Office
50, Queen Ann's Gate
London.WC1
SW1H 9AT
England

Governor Hazel Banks
HMP Belmarsh
Western Way
Thamesmead
London
SE28 OEB.

The Secretariat
HM Prison Service Headquarters
Cleland House
Page Street
London, SW1P 4LN

Directorate of Prison Medical Services
Home Office
Cleland House
Page Street
London
SW1P  

Tuesday November 5, 2002

To whom it may concern;

I am writing to express my deepest condemnation of your cruel and inhumane treatment and continued medical neglect of a young Irish prisoner held in your care.

Aidan Hulme has been denied regular medical attention to his severely injured leg for nine months since being jailed at Belmarsh as a Remand prisoner; guilty of no offense.  You will be well aware that Mr. Hulme is in severe pain and needs immediate medical care to correct severe nerve damage, worsened by months of neglect at Belmarsh prison. 

This situation was made clear in the medical report delivered by a visiting London orthopedic surgeon who examined Mr. Hulme in August, who stated that:

 “Clearly the treatment he is receiving at the moment is not comprehensive.  He has had only two sessions of physiotherapy in his entire time at Belmarsh prison, and is not wearing corrective braces, etc.  Clearly the longer this limb is left uncorrected, the more wasting is going to occur and the more difficult it will be to get anything like normal activity from this leg.  Therefore surgery should not be delayed.”

Addressing your own doctors’ ruling in July that Mr. Hulme’s leg should be amputated to correct the injuries, the visiting physician stated:

“The question of limb amblation has been raised with this young man but this really should be very much a last resort as he is only 26 years of age.  

“Certainly this young man should not submit himself to an amputation.”

This visiting physician’s ruling was made on August 5, 2002; three months ago.  You will surely not expect anyone to believe that you have not seen this report and are not aware of the urgency of this situation.  Your own doctors ruled in July that the injuries were severe enough to require amputation.  Why has nothing whatsoever been done for this young Irish man in the four months since?

 I am aware that a cash amount of £4000.00 was demanded from the family of Mr. Hulme before you would agree to a judge’s decision to release him for a scheduled surgery on September 20.  I am aware that you approached the family with this demand late in the day of September 19, allowing the family no time whatsoever to meet this demand in time to hold the bed at the hospital the following morning.  The bail ruling was made on September 4, allowing your officials over two weeks to approach the family with this outrageous demand.  No reason other than outright contempt and boundless inhumanity could be cited for your decision to wait until the night before the surgery to present this extortive and disgraceful demand.

I find this behavior over the past several months on the part of the British government to be reprehensible in the extreme, as clearly at every turn every effort has been made to ensure that Mr. Hulme will not receive medical care, and will be forced to undergo amputation of his leg in Belmarsh prison hospital.

I am aware that your government is spending millions here in the US to promote your industry and your image.  Your inhumane treatment to this young Irish citizen and his family is reprehensible in the extreme.  No amount of money spent on slick television images will ever erase the barbaric treatment of this young Irish man from my memory. 

Please redeem your claim to support of International human rights and immediately release this young Irish man for the medical attention he so desperately needs.

Sincerely;

________________________________________

 (Your Name, City/Country of Origin or Street Address)