Almost 250 people have been imprisoned for breaching antisocial behaviour injunctions (asbis) since 2020, with people being jailed for sleeping rough, begging, feeding birds and making a noise.
Analysis from academics at the universities of York and Coventry found that out of 242 cases examined from 2020-2024, there were 72 cases of imprisonment for general nuisance, 61 for abusive language and 51 for noise.
They found that 57% of people did not have legal representation at the breach hearing that led to their imprisonment: out of 97 recorded cases, 55 defendants were not represented.
“People are not getting proper representation and they get sent to prison for sometimes long periods, weeks and months. There’s no sentencing guidance for this,” said Prof Caroline Hunter from York Law School. “People might have a lot of issues that need to be dealt with, but they’re not dealt with by sending them to prison.”
An asbi is a civil injunction used to tackle antisocial behaviour, and can be issued to anyone age 10 or over. Breaching an injunction is not a criminal offence, but those who disobey an order are guilty of contempt of court and can be sent to prison.
Civil injunctions are also used in cases involving protesters, and land disputes involving Gypsies and Travellers.
Hunter, along with Rona Epstein, an honorary research fellow at Coventry law school, found that people who are destitute, homeless, have mental health issues, neurodiversity or learning disabilities were disproportionately affected.
They highlighted cases such as that of Pukakdandawa Lanka, an asylum seeker not represented or present in court, who was imprisoned for 12 weeks for breaching an injunction by sleeping rough and leaving belongings in front of St Albans civic centre.
They also flagged the case of Jacqueline Reilly, who was imprisoned for 18 months for repeatedly entering a YMCA building to sleep in the communal areas.
One man, who breached an injunction by continuing to feed pigeons on his balcony after being instructed not to was imprisoned for 15 weeks.
“I started feeding birds with my mum in the 1960s. In recent years, feeding the birds has helped with my grief, depression and ongoing sobriety. I owe them. I lost my partner, mother, brother and best friend in the space of a few years,” said Nicholas.
“I tried to tell him about how feeding the birds saved me from drinking again, and helped my grief. I had a solicitor, who said that it was a mental health issue, but the judge disagreed.”
The academics also raised concern about the case of Floyd Carruthers. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2003, and in April 2021 breached an asbi by banging on his neighbour’s door and damaging it. He was jailed for 66 days, and died in prison of sepsis after not eating for four days.
“Many people [imprisoned] were addicted to drugs or to alcohol, or they’d been in mental health hospitals. Some of them were people who had been bereaved; one woman had lost her baby. It’s extraordinary,” said Epstein. “The whole system has been put in place to deal with behaviour that is disagreeable and a detriment to the citizen, but imprisonment belongs in the criminal code.
“And there’s no public data on this, so there’s no oversight.”
The analysis waspublished by the Manifesto Club, a civil liberties campaign group, which said the government’s proposed respect orders could lead to more people being unfairly imprisoned.
In November, the home secretary announced that people who persistently exhibit antisocial behaviour will face up to two years in jailunder new respect orders, with police and councils handed powers to ban persistent offenders from town centres.
Manifesto Club’s director, Josie Appleton, said: “Civil injunctions have led to terrible injustices, and respect orders will be even worse. These powers aren’t targeting ‘hooligans’, they are targeting those in poverty or with mental health problems, and they are being imprisoned for nothing more than going into a certain area or asking for 50p.
“The criminal justice system should focus on real crimes, not pensioners feeding the birds or someone trying to find somewhere to sleep for the night.”
The asbi replaced the antisocial behaviour orders (asbos), which were scrapped in 2010. “There’s no interest [in asbis] as there was for asbos, but actually what we’re seeing is a lot going on with local authorities and social landlords using this with very little oversight,” said Hunter.
Housing associations accounted for 45% of the asbis where someone was committed for sentence, while local authorities accounted for 41%.
The analysis found people were imprisoned for an average of 95 days for breaches, with Gypsy and Traveller cases disproportionately more likely to receive a higher sentence – 70% of those cases were in the highest quartile for sentencing, compared with 24% of antisocial behaviour cases.
The reports raised concerns about people being imprisoned even where there was no evidence of harm or inconvenience caused.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “New Respect Orders will give police and councils the powers they need to clamp down on persistent antisocial behaviour and to place tough restrictions on the worst offenders.”