Archive for October, 2009

The deaf ears of the listening government

Yesterday, commenting on the Prime Minister’s purported U-turn on the Territorial Army, Lord Kinnock pointed out the classic political paradox, ‘that it is passing strange… when a Government heed advice and change policy, it is a humiliating climb-down, but when they fail to do so they are being stiff-necked and arrogant.’
It is hard to deny [...]

October 30, 2009   Posted in: Government policy, Uncategorized  No Comments

Work in prison

Theresa May asked a parliamentary question last month about how much work prisoners did whilst in prison and how many went to a job on release. Male prisoners are engaged in less than 12 hours a week of work, unpaid and paid. A couple of hours a day.
The percentage of men released from prison entering [...]

October 27, 2009   Posted in: Prisons  One Comment

A question

When did justice become a synonym for revenge?

October 26, 2009   Posted in: Uncategorized  No Comments

Plans for a new prison

The Ministry of Justice plans to build a new prison on a hospital site in Essex and is conducting a local consultation. There is a pattern here. In South London the hospital at Banstead was closed and guess what, two prisons were built on the site, Highdown and Downview. Now another mental hospital is closing [...]

October 26, 2009  Tags: ,   Posted in: Government policy, Prisons  3 Comments

Keir Starmer lecture on the role of the modern prosecutor

The Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC, gave a lecture for the Howard League last night discussing issues about the role of the prosecutors in dealing with young people. There were plenty of references to his defence of the Human Rights Act and consequent media attention, but I was really pleased to see that [...]

October 23, 2009  Tags: ,   Posted in: Children and young people, Headline grabbing, Howard League, Uncategorized  2 Comments

Complex rules for release from prison

We took a look at the various way that prisoners can get released early from prisons.  The reason we were concerned to draw up a definitive list was for a paper I presented to the new Ministerial Board on preventing deaths in custody.  I argued that deaths of people released early from prison but still [...]

October 22, 2009  Tags:   Posted in: Prisons  One Comment

Inspection reports on Pentonville and Wandsworth

Some comments on today’s inspection reports into Pentonville and Wandsworth.
Contacts tell me that the practice of bundling prisoners out before inspections is widespread and time honoured. It seems that they are known as the ‘awkward squad’, typically prisoners who have been victims of bullying or racism and who would presumably spill the beans, are transferred [...]

October 20, 2009  Tags:   Posted in: Prisons  No Comments

New children’s commissioner for England

The appointment of a new children’s commissioner for England should be an opportunity to review the role and powers of such an important post; not a time for squabbling. The Howard League for Penal Reform has had a very constructive relationship with the commissioner’s office during the tenure of Sir Al Aynsley Green and our [...]

October 19, 2009  Tags:   Posted in: Children and young people, Government policy  One Comment

Still no good

Following widespread objection to a new government law which would allow the state to remove profits from prisoners who represent their crime through any artistic medium, the government has issued two amendments in an aim to placate their critics and pass what remains an oppressive statute.
To recap, Part 7 of the Coroners and Justice Bill [...]

October 16, 2009  Tags:   Posted in: Government policy  No Comments

Support on release

Our solicitors have been working for a very vulnerable 17 year old with learning problems who had been in prison for 3 years. He was not coping well with custody. He had a parole hearing coming up and all the professionals in the prison system and the youth offending team were supporting his release – [...]

October 14, 2009  Tags:   Posted in: Children and young people, Uncategorized  2 Comments