Archive for February, 2009

Preventing suicides in custody

I went to the final meeting of the Ministerial meeting on preventing suicides in custody.В  I was a founder member 11 years ago and have met with 10 prisons ministers, this one is Shahid Malik.В  The meetings have brought together the Chief Inspector, chief operating officers and heads of health and probation with the key [...]

February 26, 2009   Posted in: Self-injuring  No Comments

Celebrities should get equal treatment

I don’t normally comment on individual cases because we rarely know the full details. But I do contribute to public debate when general principles are concerned.
Thus with today’s story that the Justice Secretary has personally intervened to overturn the prison governor’s decision that Jade Goody fiancГ© should stick to the terms of his early release [...]

February 20, 2009   Posted in: Government policy  No Comments

Don’t downgrade prison officers

I went to the NOMS conference in Birmingham last week. Two days in the NEC with governors and probation managers, and you pick up a lot of gossip and news.
Jack Straw seems to be quite obsessed with Harry Fletcher. It seemed like a third of his speech was a personal diatribe, really rather odd. He [...]

February 9, 2009   Posted in: Prison officers  No Comments

Prisoners are citizens

I visited a prison in France for long term adult male prisoners last Friday. It held about 250 men mostly serving ten years to life, in rather ramshackle accommodation, but with a very secure outer perimeter that allowed for a more relaxed atmosphere inside. Two things really struck me.В  Firstly, during a conversation about work [...]

February 2, 2009   Posted in: Rehabilitation  No Comments