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With the prison population almost 1,200 higher than it was when the Sentencing Act became law in January, its easy to see why the government want its key provisions to come into force quickly. But are the courts ready to apply the presumption against short prison sentences to those convicted from next Monday? The law looks reasonably clear about the types of case for which the presumption wont…
It’s good to see the House of Commons Justice Committee asking the government tough questions about the controversial Courts and Tribunals Bill. The Committee has issued a call for evidence to inform its scrutiny of the Bill and has already engaged the Lord Chancellor about the likely impacts of the legislation, including on the prison population. Diverting more cases into the Magistrates Courts…
There are some things to welcome in the government’s youth justice policy statement presented to Parliament today. Improved funding arrangements should enable local services to divert more children from crime, particularly knife crime and develop more effective alternatives to custody especially for those on remand. Plans to better incentivise local authorities to keep children awaiting trial for…
HMP Dartmoor was first built because overcrowding, poor sanitation and lack of fresh air on the floating hulks off Plymouth were causing so many prisoners of war to die on them. 220 years on, Parliament’s spending watchdog has roundly condemned a decision to keep the prison open despite the prison service knowing for years that it’s “choked with radon gas with all the health risks that entailed”.…
Surprising perhaps given the pressure on prisons that today’s alert to the Lord Chancellor about the appalling outcomes at HMP Swaleside is only the second such urgent notification (UN) about an adult prison this year. But it’s another shocking report none the less. The Chief Inspector has found dangerously unsafe conditions for prisoners and staff at the Kent prison with very high levels of…
The prison population projections out today are produced to aid policy development, capacity planning and resource allocation within the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS). Odd then that they take no account of the Sentencing Bill that will almost certainly become law early next year and start to have a downward impact on prison numbers as soon as it…
Radical stuff from the Childrens Commissioner in her Longford Lecture this week- urging that Young Offender Institutions are closed now, that children aren’t remanded in custodial settings and that alternatives are developed even for those who commit the most serious offences. Rachel de Souza is right that her message is politically inconvenient. But is it coherent in terms of policy? I was…
Prison fires and subsequent injuries remain of serious concern according to the recently published 2024-25 Annual Report of the Crown Premises Fire Safety Inspectorate (CPFSI). It’s a much more timely and useful publication than usual- the 2023-24 Report came out just four months ago- and it’s a troubling one. The latest update reveals that the 116 prisons in England saw 534 fire related injuries…
Up to £6 million is needed to fix 184 faulty doors at the Oasis Restore Secure School (ORSS) which closed last month, MPs have been told . Replying to queries from the Justice Committee, new Youth Justice Minister Jake Richards wrote that concerns were first raised about “internal door functionality” in February, when vandalism exposed weaknesses in the locking systems and fabric of some doors.…
Failings in secure institutions for children are all too familiar, but a report out today paints an equally disturbing picture of life in a prison where many of those serving long sentences are transferred when they turn 18. Among the findings of the local watchdog during the course of the year to April, HMP Swinfen Hall saw · “no go” areas for staff too scared to challenge young men in their care…