Coroners and Justice Bill

I speak in opposition to these clauses. I am very grateful to noble Lords who have spoken and have covered a whole range of issues and problems with the clauses. I fully support their concerns and I do not intend to repeat them. I want to look at this issue from the point of view of what actually constitutes a memoir, and the difficulties and problematics involved in assessing what that might be. I come to this from a position of knowing a great deal of work that goes on in prisons and in the criminal justice system in general with regard to arts works, which cover a whole range of activities. Does "memoir" cover dramatising lives through playwriting, screenplays, choreography, visual arts, television or literature? There are many ways of approaching the question of how you address what you have done in your life. The Explanatory Notes suggest that exploitation covers a whole range of forms. They state that, ""exploitation can be by any means including publishing material in written or electronic form, using any media from which visual images, words or sounds can be produced and live entertainment, representation"—" I am not quite sure what that means— ""or interview"." I should say, given my experience as an academic who has spent a long time analysing media and cultural texts, that it is very possible to disguise or smuggle in, as it were, the details of one’s autobiography relating to a particular crime through a large number of methodologies or means—it could be through metaphor, analogy, satire or using animation. Are all of those areas covered? That also begs the question of the extent to which people will be available, able to analyse and to assess the cultural and education value of such work. Does it have less educational and cultural value because the work is done very simply in a particular form, or uses a lot of expletives? Does it mean more because it is written a particular style? Would that mean that "cleverer" prisoners would be deemed to have produced a work that is of more value than others? That area is highly problematic; any act of memoir is a creative act—it is not simply putting down facts. The act of creative expression is located in its capacity to be interpreted. That brings with it a range of problems about who it will offend, and who will find it obnoxious and upsetting. A range of people can write about the most horrendous crimes in any form they want, which could be equally upsetting for those who have been affected by those horrible acts. Finally, there is plenty of evidence that engaging in creative activities in prison helps prisoners to rehabilitate, because it encourages them to explore the self and reflect on their past, and challenges unacceptable anti-social behaviour. If that is stopped or deemed not to be a viable thing to do on the way to earning legitimate money, it would be very difficult. That is why I oppose the clause.