Archive for January, 2008

Titan prisons too expensive

The government says that each new titan prison will cost some ВЈ390 million for the land and the build. For this we could have 13 brand new secondary schools or four big new hospitals with 4,000 beds AND 122 new operating theatres.

January 29, 2008   Posted in: Government policy  No Comments

Police filling gaps in the youth service

I have just been talking to a group of senior managers from the youth justice system. They came up with some hair-raising stories.
We were in heated discussions about the value of police community support officers. One example given was in a rural area where the PCSOs are running football clubs and other activities for children. [...]

January 24, 2008   Posted in: Government policy  No Comments

Prison Officers need support

I bumped into Colin Moses, Chair of the Prison Officers’ Association, last week outside the House of Lords. He had been in to a meeting to talk about trade union rights, which the Government is trying to curtail, and promptly harrangued me about this too.
We have not got involved in the furore about taking away [...]

January 23, 2008   Posted in: Prison officers  No Comments

Byron’s maiden speech

I have been reading a book about Byron (Frederick Raphael’s, really good) and he quotes the maiden speech made by the poet to the
House of Lords in 1812. He spoke against the Bill proposing savage penalties against the Nottingham weavers who had employed Luddite tactics in breaking mechanical frames which were threatening their livelihoods. He [...]

January 17, 2008   Posted in: Howard League  No Comments

High profile champion for community service needed

It occurred to me that the new nomenclature for community service, “unpaid work”, might be counter-productive. The majority of those subject to the sentence have had little, or no, experience of real work for responsible employers. If their sentence for wrong doing is to do work unpaid, then it might well send out the message [...]

January 15, 2008   Posted in: Government policy  No Comments

New chair of the Youth Justice Board

I see they have finally appointed a new chair to the Youth Justice Board. Frances Done is someone I have never heard of, so I am keeping an open mind.
She has absolutely no experience of working with children though, which is a little bizarre. Her background seems to be in accounts. As long as she [...]

January 15, 2008   Posted in: Government policy  No Comments