22 Apr 2020

Coronavirus: Defence lawyers oppose government bail advice

From Morning Report, 8:25 am on 22 April 2020

Top level government advice to oppose bail for prisoners on the grounds they may have Covid-19 is unlawful and turns prisons into quarantine facilities, according to leading defence lawyers.

The lawyers are taking on the government's chief legal advisor, the Solicitor General, who has sent a directive to prosecutors advising them to oppose bail on suspicion of Covid-19.

Investigative Journalist Guyon Espiner reports.