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On 29 August 2007 the Prison Officers Association ("POA") held an unlawful national strike. As the Governor of HMP Wealstun was left with a skeleton staff she issued an order that prisoners were to be confined to their cells for the day. As a result Mr Iqbal, a prisoner, was deprived of the few hours he would typically have been allowed out of his cell according to the daily routine established by the Governor. He brought proceedings for false imprisonment against the POA relating to the period for which he was confined to his cell when he would otherwise have been allowed out.
In Iqbal v. Prison Officers Association [2009] EWCA Civ 1312, [2010] 2 W.L.R. 1054 the Court of Appeal, by a majority, dismissed the claim. It was common ground that if the striking officers were liable then the POA would also be liable. It is a fundamental feature of the rule of law in England that public officers who act outside legal authority can be liable in tort for their actions in the same way as any other individual. A claim could not be made against the Governor because at all times she had lawful authority to detain the prisoner under the Prison Act 1952.
There is a clear reason why the officers could not be liable after the Governor had issued her order at 9.30 a.m. From that point the Governor had, under her statutory authority, sanctioned the confinement of the prisoners to their cells, and her order "superseded" the daily routine. In R v. Deputy Governor of Parkhurst Prison, ex parte Hague [1992] 1 A.C. 58 it was established that a prisoner has no "residual liberty" vis-à-vis the Governor as under the Prison Act prisoners are deemed to be in her lawful custody and subject to her authority at all times....