Baroness Grey-Thompson (CB)

My Lords, I will speak to Amendments 22, 24, 30C, 308, 347 and 458. I tabled these amendments after looking at data from other jurisdictions and listening to debates in another place. These amendments are probing. I want to be clear that they are here to invite debate not on the death penalty, abortion rights or who can become pregnant but merely on the groups and how they are impacted by the Bill. With regard to my amendments on prisoners, those on remand and defendants on bail, there could be seen to be a conflict between prisoners’ rights to autonomy and the state’s duty to administer punishment. I was privileged to visit a young offender institution recently with the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, which I chair. It is always very interesting to visit prisoners in young offender institutions and see the life that they live. UK staff are trained to spot prisoners who are at risk of bullying, suicide or self-harm. But I would like to understand—including in the context of what the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Gloucester raised about prisoners’ access to primary care—how this would work in practice and which doctors would be allowed to have a conversation with prisoners. Those deprived of liberty can be very vulnerable and prone to suicide. As we have heard, they could also experience a lack of care and palliative care. Yoann Della Croce argues that while prisoners in Switzerland should have the same level of care as the general population, assisted dying is a liberty that should not be extended to prisoners. There are many international examples. Peter Vogt, a prisoner with kidney and heart disease in Switzerland, applied for euthanasia in 2023 due to physical and mental suffering, citing a life of “vegetating behind walls”. As of August 2020, three prisoners in Canadian federal prisons had received MAID. The process for these cases is complex, involving unique barriers such as bureaucratic hurdles and concerns about voluntariness and confidentiality in correctional settings. This issue is not without controversy. Quadriplegic Marin Eugen Sabau requested euthanasia in 2022 after being shot and paralysed by police while being arrested. Due to the Spanish Government’s wording of the assistive Bill around incurable and unbearable permanent conditions, he was successful in requesting euthanasia. After initiating procedures in July 2022, and approval by the guarantee and evaluation commission of Catalonia, the process was suspended as a result of private and public prosecutors filing several appeals. Despite this, these were dismissed and the man’s euthanasia was carried out a month later. In Belgium, Frank Van Den Bleeken asked for approval for euthanasia. It was initially granted, but the decision was later reversed. Similarly, in 2018, a Swiss inmate made a request to die through the EXIT society, because of an incurable lung disease and mental illness, arguing that refusing him access to assistance constituted psychological torture.