United Kingdom
Seen in the press
Read our selection of press reports about this country.
United Kingdom: youth prison deemed 'unsafe' less than two years after staff accused of physical abusing children
A youth prison that came under fire last year after allegations that staff had physically abused young offenders has been rated inadequate by inspectors. Medway Secure Training Centre, which was previously run by G4S but was taken over by the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) last July, h…United Kingdom: deferred sentences – used again but not used enough
News this month of two cases where Judges have used deferred sentences for a few months in relation to women offenders is nothing compared to the Oklahoma women whose sentence was deferred for 10 years after she killed her boyfriend by running him over. She was only 19 and his father spoke in her s…UK: what it’s like to be a transgender woman in a men’s prison
During the past 18 months, three openly transgender women have taken their own lives in custody in England: Vikki Thompson, Joanne Latham and Jenny Swift. Their deaths speak of the difficulties that transgender people face behind bars. The ongoing inquest into Thompson’s death sheds some light onto…UK: transgender woman said she would leave male prison 'in a box'
Inquest hears Vikki Thompson died within a month of arriving at HMP Leeds where she was classed as being a suicide risk. A transgender woman sent to a male prison was found dead in her cell after repeatedly warning that she would leave “in a box”, a jury has heard.Royaume-Uni : Supreme court to consider appeal to enforce smoking ban in jails
Prisoner says rules on smoking in communal areas are not being upheld, exposing him to dangerous levels of secondhand smoke. The remaining rights of prisoners to smoke inside their cells are to be challenged at the supreme court in a case which, if successful, could inflame discipline problems in p…