What Happens Over the Weekend?
Russell Brand Will Spend Four Nights In Custody Before He Hears His Sentence.
Russell Brand’s barrister asked the judge to let him go home to say goodbye to his children. The judge refused. Brand was taken down to the cells at Southwark Crown Court on Thursday 5 November. He is due to be sentenced on Monday 9 November, meaning he will spend Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights in custody.
A jury convicted Brand, 51, of raping one woman and sexually assaulting three others. It acquitted him of two further rape charges and one charge of attempted indecent assault. Mr Justice Bennathan told Brand to expect a substantial prison term. The judge will announce its length on Monday.
What Happens After Russell Brand Leaves the Dock?
The cells beneath the court were Brand’s first stop. For someone remanded in custody after conviction, the usual next step is transport to a receiving prison. The court reporting establishes that Brand was taken into custody. His destination, the wing where he will sleep and whether he will share a cell remain unconfirmed.
On arrival, prison staff normally check the new prisoner’s identity and the paperwork authorising detention, record belongings and arrange an initial healthcare screening. Two questions matter on that first evening. Does the person need medication or urgent treatment? Is there anything about their safety, or the safety of someone sharing with them, that staff need to act on before the cell door closes?
Those checks help determine the first night’s accommodation. Brand’s public profile may prompt questions about where he will be held, but assigning him to a particular prison or describing him as being in isolation would go beyond the available evidence.
Can He Speak to His Family This Weekend?
Refusing bail settled whether Brand could go home before sentencing. Contact from inside prison follows separate rules.
Prison guidance provides for access to a telephone at reception or in the first-night accommodation so a new arrival can contact a legal adviser or deal with an urgent family matter. One reason the guidance gives is particularly relevant in the hours after a court appearance: telling a family member where the person has been taken. In some circumstances, staff make that call on the prisoner’s behalf.
A visit takes more arranging. The establishment has its own visiting times and booking process. With only Friday and the weekend between admission and sentencing, it would be premature to say that Brand’s family will see him in person. The defence request tells us that he wanted to say goodbye to his children at home. It tells us nothing about which private calls or visits may subsequently take place.
What Will Saturday and Sunday Be Like?
By Saturday morning, Brand will already have spent two nights in custody. The ordinary priorities for a new arrival are learning the prison’s routine, finding out how to get healthcare or contact a solicitor, and understanding when the cell door opens for meals, a shower or time outside. The receiving prison sets the timetable. An exact wake-up time or a figure for how many hours Brand will spend locked in his cell would be guesswork.
One practical difference from the weeks he spent attending trial on bail is how much advance arrangement even a small task can require. A conversation with family depends on telephone access. A visit needs a booking. Questions about Monday’s hearing can be raised with his legal team, but any consultation has to take place from custody.
Much of the weekend may therefore be spent waiting. Brand already knows the jury’s decisions on all seven charges. He has also heard the judge say that a substantial term will follow. What he cannot know until Monday is how the judge will express the harm to the four women in sentencing him for the four offences.
What Happens at Monday’s Sentencing Hearing?
The focus turns from the evidence needed to prove each charge to the consequences of the offences the jury found proved. The prosecution can draw the court’s attention to the harm caused. Any victim who has chosen to make a personal statement has an opportunity for the court to consider, in her own words, how the offence affected her. Brand’s barrister can put forward mitigation before the judge passes sentence.
With four convictions, the figure to listen for is the overall prison term. A judge can announce a sentence for each offence and direct that some terms run at the same time or one after another. Simply adding together every number read out in court can give the wrong answer. The judge’s directions will establish how those terms fit together.
For now, two decisions are public. The jury convicted Brand of offences against four women, and the judge refused to release him over the weekend. On Monday, the women and Brand are due to hear the judge explain the punishment for those crimes.
Sources
Reuters — Russell Brand convicted at Southwark Crown Court and refused bail
Associated Press — The jury’s verdicts and the sentencing date
Court reporting on the defence request for time with Brand’s children
HM Prison and Probation Service — Reception, the first night and induction into custody
Sentencing Council — How courts use victim personal statements
