Prisoners demand right to be fathers

Six prisoners in British jails are applying to give sperm to their wives and partners after a landmark European court ruling concluded that their human rights were breached if they were stopped from having children.

The inmates, all serving long terms, are basing their applications on claims they will be too old to become fathers once they have finished their sentences.

The revelation is likely to spark further debate about the use of Britain's European-inspired Human Rights Act and the rights of prisoners.



The applications follow a landmark case in which a serving British prisoner, Kirk Dickson, and his wife, Lorraine, requested access to artificial insemination services. Dickson, who is serving a minimum of 15 years for kicking a man to death, met his wife through a pen pal scheme while she was in prison for benefits fraud. The pair's original request, brought under the Human Rights Act, was blocked by the government. The European court of human rights in Strasbourg also turned down the claim.

But the final appeal court of the Strasbourg human rights tribunal, the Grand Chamber, said blocking the couple's request was a denial of their right to become parents. The chamber ruled the government breached Article 8 of the European convention on human rights, the right to a private and family life.

The chamber concluded that the government's policy, which was to refuse permission unless there were exceptional circumstances, set the bar "too high to allow proper consideration of the proportionality of any such decision". The government must now consider each application on a case-by-case basis. A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Justice confirmed that applications from six prisoners requesting access to artificial insemination services were pending a decision by the justice secretary, Jack Straw.