United Kingdom
Seen in the press
Read our selection of press reports about this country.
United Kingdom: four in ten who took their lives in prison were denied adequate healthcare
Four in ten incarcerated people who took their own lives in custody were denied adequate healthcare before their deaths, according to damning new figures exposing the scale of neglect inside Britain’s overcrowded prisons.United Kingdom: lack of basic care to blame for self-harm in women’s prisons
A lack of basic care lies behind a surge in the rate of self-harm in women’s prisons, according to a thematic report by the Chief Inspector of Prisons, Charlie Taylor. In the report, Taylor describes a service that is failing and describes the findings as “deeply depressing”.United Kingdom: I'd struggle to survive my own jail
The governor of Barlinnie says he would “struggle” to survive life inside his own overcrowded prison. Michael Stoney described Scotland’s largest jail as a “pressure cooker” and said new early release laws were necessary for staff and incarcerated people.United Kingdom: UN torture tsar attacks UK over 'inhumane' indefinite jail terms
A United Nations torture tsar has said British incarcerated people trapped on indefinite jail terms are probably “being detained arbitrarily” after The Independent revealed six in 10 are being blocked from moving to open jails.United Kingdom: prison staffing crisis laid bare as complaints about officer behaviour surge to worst levels in at least a decade
Complaints to the ombudsman in the year ending March 2024 - a period during which the Tories freed thousands of incarcerated people early to avoid running out of space—hit 4,575, the highest number since before the pandemic.United Kingdom: incarcerated person who took MoJ to court says he remains in isolation 20 months later
An incarcerated person who brought a legal challenge in April 2023 alleging he had been held in solitary confinement in England for more than two years has said he remains in isolation 20 months later because the judge has not given her decision in the case.United Kingdom: incarcerated people offered music and relaxation therapy
Incarcerated people are being offered a sensory healing technique called ‘innerdance’ to tackle stress and boost well-being. The activity takes place in the prison’s Recovery Hub, led by a team trained in trauma and addiction, including peer mentors.United Kingdom: Strangeways slammed as horrifying new report reveals scale of problems in troubled prison
Inspectors found HMP Manchester was filthy, with a chronic rodent infestation, and many cell windows were smashed, prompting prisoners to use foam from mattresses and pillows to push into window frames to stop the cold getting in.United Kingdom: former top judges tell government to reverse sentence inflation
Five of the former most senior judges have intervened in the debate over the prison population crisis to urge the government to reverse the trend of locking people up for longer – declaring that ‘radical solutions’ are required to tackle the prison population crisis.United Kingdom: overcrowding, drug misuse and violence, a journey through the prison system in numbers
Prisons across the country are in a deep state of crisis – the extent of which is exposed by the latest statistics. Soaring rates of violence, self-harm and drug misuse have become widespread in overcrowded prisons in England and Wales.United Kingdom: government will not repay ‘bed and board’ deductions to all wrongfully imprisoned
Some victims of historic miscarriages of justice have been told by the government that bed and board costs for the time they spent in prison will be deducted from their compensation payments. Miscarriage of justice victims say money taken from compensation payouts is additional punishment.