12 hours ago
Lucy Connolly has become a martyr to injustice
What on earth is going on in the case of Lucy Connolly? The Northampton childminder and mother was convicted after posting an incendiary tweet in the wake of the Southport murders last year and jailed for 31 months, a sentence designed to demonstrate society's abhorrence of whipping up the mob.
That term was far too long for a single comment, however nasty, which was removed within hours. She is spending more time in prison than many offenders who have committed crimes of violence or sexual abuse.
She has even been placed on a 23-hour lockdown, confined to her cell with no privileges for an offence that, given her good behaviour, could be dealt with in an open prison or with home detention. The Court of Appeal rejected a recent attempt to rule the sentence excessive and expedite Mrs Connolly's release.
The punishment for a crime is deprivation of liberty. It has been a long time since prisoners were subjected to additional, condign privation. Yet Mrs Connolly seems to have been treated especially harshly. Last week, she was manhandled by half a dozen prison officers and moved to a wing that houses the most dangerous inmates. Richard Tice, the Reform MP, visited her in Peterborough jail and reported that bruises on her wrists from handcuffs were still apparent.
If the judiciary and penal system are being recruited to treat a particular prisoner harshly to cover up the state's failings then that is unconscionable. Furthermore, if the aim is to discourage others from doing the same it is backfiring. Instead of being denounced for a crime she admitted she has become a martyr to injustice.
