United Kingdom: England & Wales
Seen in the press
Read our selection of press reports about this country.
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. The prison population remains “within a few hundred places of…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.United Kingdom: prison locked down with prisoners shut in cells as bosses battle 'near-tsunami'
Prisoners at HMP Hindley have been locked in the cells as bosses battle a ‘near-tsunami’ of drugs. A friend of one prisoner told the Manchester Evening News lags hadn’t been allowed out for a shower or exercise for two days.United Kingdom: Governors call for prisoners to be released at 40% point
Prisons will run out of space within days, putting the public at risk and endangering prisoners and staff, the Prison Governors’ Association (PGA) has warned in a letter to the leaders of all UK political parties. The PGA, which represents 95 per cent of prison governors, says that shortly even pol…Scotland: crisis-hit prisons 'risk breaching rights of inmates'
Scottish prisons are in crisis and risk breaching inmates’ human rights, according to a new official report. Holyrood’s Public Audit Committee has called on the government to carry out an urgent review of the prison system. It follows recent warnings from within the service about overcrowding and a…United Kingdom: prisoners serving sentences with no clear end is a stain on British justice, it also amounts to torture
Nearly 3,000 prisoners in England and Wales remain in jail under Imprisonment for public protection (IPP) sentences today, and many others who have been released face the ongoing prospect of immediate recall to prison. They are experiencing a punishment that is inhumane and often amounts to psychol…United Kingdom: prison set up a 'rage room' for prisoners to 'let off steam' by smashing old wooden pallets
Inmates at HMP Buckley Hall in Rochdale, Lancs, were given safety goggles and allowed to demolish the wooden structures with various implements. The ‘pallet-smashing workshop’ was praised by Charlie Taylor, the Chief Inspector of Prisons, for allowing prisoners to release their pent-up anger – and…United Kingdom: prisoners with cancer more likely to die of it than other patients
A study has calculated that compared with cancer patients in the general population, patients in English prisons are 28% less likely to receive treatment for cancer, particularly surgery to remove tumours, and have a 9% increased risk of death – half of which is due to treatment differences.United Kingdom: rethink on recalls will see 4,000 per year released early
A change in the rules under which people are recalled to prison in England and Wales for breaching their licence conditions is expected to result in around 4,000 people a year being re-released earlier, the Ministry of Justice has revealed.United Kingdom: black prisoners at Wormwood Scrubs ‘disproportionately subjected to use of force’
The annual report of the Independent Monitoring Board found that from June 2022 to May 2023, black prisoners in Wormwood Scrubs were subjected to 43% of use-of-force incidents although they formed just 27% of the prison population.