In a twist of fate that seems almost cruel, 77-year-old environmental activist Gaie Delap will be spending Christmas behind bars – all because authorities cannot find an electronic monitoring device small enough to fit her petite wrists. The retired teacher and devout Quaker had been released from prison to serve the remainder of her sentence for climate protests under home detention. However, without a properly-fitted tag to track her, Delap now finds herself recalled to HMP Eastwood Park, trading holiday celebrations with family for the confines of a cell.
Delap, along with four others, was originally jailed in August for her role in disruptive Just Stop Oil demonstrations on the M25 motorway encircling London back in November 2022. The activists had climbed atop gantries, forcing authorities to halt traffic and causing massive tailbacks affecting an estimated 709,000 drivers. While released under a home curfew in November, attempts to fit Delap with the court-mandated monitoring device quickly hit a snag.
The private contractor responsible for tagging was unable to attach the standard ankle monitor to Delap due to her risk of developing deep vein thrombosis, a potentially serious blood clotting condition. However, they apparently lacked any wrist-mounted units small enough to securely fit the septuagenarian’s diminutive arms. Faced with no way to electronically ensure her compliance with curfew conditions, officials had little choice but to remand the activist back into custody.
A Controversial Sentence Continues
Delap’s initial sentence had already sparked outcry, with her Member of Parliament, Carla Denyer, expressing “deep concern” over what she deemed a “disproportionate” punishment for an “entirely peaceful and non-violent” act of civil disobedience. In a letter to prisons minister Lord Timpson, Denyer described her constituent as posing “no threat to her fellow citizens” and condemned the handling of her case as a “disproportionate crackdown on climate protesters.”
For his part, Lord Timpson maintained that ministers and officials were unable to intervene in sentences imposed by the independent judiciary. With no suitable alternative to a securely-fitted tag, he argued Delap would have to remain incarcerated in accordance with the law until another solution could be found. Supporters fear this may mean the ailing activist serves out the entirety of her term in prison, rather than in the comfort of her own home.
Health Concerns and Alleged Gender Bias
Beyond viewing her original sentence as excessive, Delap’s supporters have also expressed grave concerns over her health and wellbeing behind bars. The activist reportedly suffers from multiple chronic conditions, which they fear may be exacerbated by the stresses of imprisonment. Moreover, some have alleged an element of gender bias in her ill-fitting tag troubles.
“We know that if she had been a man, a tag would have been available,” Delap’s brother Mick Delap and friend Mike Campbell asserted in a joint statement.
The pair described Delap’s re-imprisonment as a “cruel and totally unnecessary” move that represented a “ridiculous waste of resources and money.” They pleaded for “common sense to prevail” and demanded the immediate release of an individual they contend poses absolutely no danger to the community at large.
An Activist’s Uncertain Fate
As the holiday season unfolds, Gaie Delap remains in legal limbo – a 77-year-old climate activist taken into custody not for any new offense, but because the system seems utterly ill-equipped to humanely handle her situation. While officials may insist they are merely following the letter of the law, critics argue the greater injustice is that an elderly, infirm individual will be spending Christmas isolated from her loved ones over an issue as seemingly trivial as the size of an electronic tag.
For now, Delap can do little but wait, either for the private contractor to procure a suitably petite monitor, or perhaps for the prisons minister to have a change of heart and release her on compassionate grounds in light of the extenuating circumstances. Until then, this septuagenarian activist will mark the holiday from her cell, potentially facing several more months behind bars – a punishment her supporters contend vastly outweighs her original act of principled protest.
