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Gaie Delap’s prison sentence to be extended
Gaie Delap, a 78-year-old grandmother from Montpelier, will have to serve a further 20 days in prison.
Gaie was initially served a 20-month prison sentence for causing a public nuisance after taking part in a Just Stop Oil protest on a M25 gantry in 2022.
She began her prison stay in August 2024 but was released in November to serve the rest of her sentence in the community.
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She was released on a home detention curfew, meaning she was required to stay at home between 7am-7pm and wear an electronic monitoring tag that monitored her movements.
However, the government’s Electronic Monitoring Service (EMS), managed by Serco, were unable to fit her with a tag.
Gaie received a 20 month sentence in 2024 after taking part in a Just Stop Oil protest on a M25 gantry in 2022
EMS could not fit a tag to her ankle due to a health condition and said they could not attach a tag to her wrist because it was too small.
On December 20 Gaie was sent back to prison due to these difficulties fitting the tag.
She spent her 78th birthday – on January 10 – at Eastwood Park Prison in Gloucestershire. To mark the occasion, friends and family organised a candle-lit vigil outside the prison.
On January 25, 25 researchers and legal and prison reform charities, including the Good Law Project (who are crowdfunding for Gaie’s legal fees), published an open letter to justice secretary Shabana Mahmood, asking her to revoke Gaie’s prison recall.
However, on Friday Gaie was told she must serve a further 20 days in prison.
Gaie has been told she will be released from prison on April 7
At the time of her recall in December, Gaie was told that she would be released on March 17. However, her release date has now been extended to April 7.
This 20 day extension accounts for the time period between EMS’ inability to fit the tag in November 2024 and Gaie’s eventual return to prison following her arrest on December 20. Prison authorities say Gaie was “unlawfully at large” during this period.
After hearing this news Mike Delap, Gaie’s brother, said: “How come that it has proved so impossible to fit this normal-sized woman, who desperately wants to have electronic monitoring, with any one of the many different forms of monitoring available to the authorities?
“That was true of the time she was waiting at home, and has continued to be true in the month since she has been back in prison.
“How come there has been a deafening silence from the Ministry of Justice since Gaie’s return to prison despite numerous appeals from her family, friends and her MP?
“And, perhaps most crucially, how come those with ultimate responsibility for the proper functioning of Serco/EMS – the MoJ and Parliament – are so blatantly failing to hold them to account?”
A Ministry of Justice (MoJ) spokesperson told The Guardian: “We are bound by law to enforce sentences passed down by the independent judiciary, this includes handing down additional days in custody when the law dictates.”
Read next:
- 77-year-old activist sent back to prison due to issues fitting tag
- Family of 77-year-old activist say jail recall is evidence of ‘direct discrimination’
- Montpelier grandma faces jail recall because authorities ‘can’t find a tag small enough’
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