News November 17, 2023 United Kingdom: inspectors find squalid conditions, spiralling self-harm and violence at Bedford Prison HM Inspector of Prisons says that conditions at HMP Bedford have deteriorated so sharply that they’ve had to issue an urgent notification for improvement.
News November 16, 2023 United Kingdom: poor support for rehabilitation may cause prison leavers to reoffend A report by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has found a significant decline in the quality of support given to prison leavers, which is predicted to increase the likelihood that prisoners will reoffend once released.
News October 25, 2023 United Kingdom: cells without toilets persist despite "slopping out" law Prisoners in some facilities forced to defecate in buckets overnight, a practice outlawed in 1996.
News October 9, 2023 United Kingdom: prison fails on inmate living conditions Dartmoor Prison is failing to provide adequate living conditions, education and work opportunities for its inmates, says an inspectors’ report.
News October 6, 2023 United Kingdom: over 100,000 children have parent in prison Record comes as Estonia confirms it is in talks with UK over plans to accept British prisoners amid overcrowding crisis
News September 29, 2023 United Kingdom: prisoners sleeping on matresses "wedged next to lavatories" due to overcrowding Inspector criticises “degrading” conditions in prisons in correspondence to Government
News September 18, 2023 United Kingdom: staff shortages an issue amid ‘deeply worrying’ prison deaths in England Inquests flag up gaps in the care of prisoners in relation to at least nine deaths in custody since 2021.
News September 18, 2023 United Kingdom: indefinite sentences should be suicide risk factor, says prisons watchdog Nine self-inflicted deaths of prisoners serving IPP sentences in 2022 was highest number since controversial introduction.
News September 18, 2023 United Kingdom: HMP Wakefield, calls for action over conditions at city’s high security jail Urgent action has been demanded over conditions at Wakefield’s high-security jail
News September 1, 2023 United Kingdom: jail housing Charles Bronson is "fundamentally unsafe", says watchdog ‘Urgent support’ needed over high levels of violence and drugs at understaffed HMP Woodhill
News July 24, 2023 Scotland: prisons criticised over handling of inmates in solitary confinement Inspectorate calls for urgent improvements, particularly in treatment of prisoners with mental health problems.
News January 24, 2023 United Kingdom: seen in the press / 2023 Violence, acts of protest, prison conditions, justice reforms: find out what is new about prisons and justice in this country. Prison Insider monitors the press on a regular basis.
News January 11, 2022 United Kingdom: seen in the press / 2022 Violence, acts of protest, prison conditions, justice reforms: find out what is new about prisons and justice in this country. Prison Insider monitors the press on a regular basis.
News December 8, 2021 United Kingdom: seen in the press / 2021 Violence, acts of protest, prison conditions, justice reforms: find out what is new about prisons and justice in this country. Prison Insider monitors the press on a regular basis.
News December 8, 2020 United Kingdom: investing in yet more prison places is not the way to cut crime The chancellor’s £4bn to imprison more criminals in England and Wales should be spent helping people live a life outside crime.
News December 7, 2020 United Kingdom: Howard League exposes injustice of prison disciplinary system The disciplinary system in prisons creates a pervasive sense of injustice, fuelling conflict and overcrowding and should be overhauled, the Howard League for Penal Reform reveals.
News November 20, 2020 United Kingdom: CT child advocate report, adult prison system is no place for minors The 18-year-old didn’t want to be in jail, he told Department of Correction officials one day in 2019, as he covered the window in his cell with a sheet and mattress. He wanted to be with his family. He was being held in a “Restrictive Housing Unit” at Manson Youth Institution in Cheshire, confined…
News October 30, 2020 United Kingdom: speed up video calls rollout in prison to ease families’ lockdown anguish The rollout of secure video calls in prisons should be speeded up to ease the distress of families and their loved ones unable to see each other since the cancellation of social visits, a new briefing by the Prison Reform Trust (PRT) suggests. Based on 278 contributions from families and prisoners…
News October 9, 2020 United Kingdom: lockdown conditions leave prisoners at risk of serving longer sentences Lockdown conditions in prisons have effectively ended opportunities for prisoners to take part in rehabilitation activities and progress in their sentences. For the nearly 11,000 prisoners serving indeterminate sentences (9,000 unreleased; 2,000 recalled), this could lead to them spending significa…
News September 23, 2020 United Kingdom: the disgraceful prisons expose ministers' refusal to learn from mistakes From probation reform to test and trace, the government has presided over a catalogue of public services failures.
News September 14, 2020 United Kingdom: teenage killers could spend rest of their lives in prison after "life means life" shake-up The government is planning to lower the age at which murderers can be jailed for life without parole from 21 to 18.
News July 29, 2020 UK: Children in detention may face Covid-19 restrictions until 2022, ‘It’s just too long’ Rules allowing up to 22 hours of solitary confinement for young offenders could continue, in move lawyers say is ‘very concerning’
News July 29, 2020 UK: more than 140 freed inmates housed in hotels and B&Bs in lockdown MoJ says hotels used as last resort to prevent homelessness and reduce coronavirus risk.
News July 8, 2020 UK: lockdown report reveals HMP Maidstone inmates confined to cell for 23 hours a day with higher number of self-harm incidents An inspection of a Kent prison during lockdown has revealed inmates have been confined to their cells for 23 hours a day and had no face-to-face contact with the outside world for at least 12 weeks. The report has also highlighted a “self-inflicted death” at HMP Maidstone since the restrictions cam…