Archive for February, 2010

No discernable progress

I thought readers of this blog would be interested in some highlights (or lowlights indeed) on how children and young adults are treated in the prison system, according to the latest annual report of the Chief Inspector of Prisons:
Children
Although there has been a drop in overall numbers, the number of children serving long term sentences [...]

February 24, 2010  Tags: , ,   Posted in: Inside prisons, Prisons, Uncategorized  No Comments

Children’s prison to close

Castington prison for children is to close – fantastic news. One down, quite a lot more to go. Castington, in Northumberland, is hundreds of miles away from the homes of many of the young people incarcerated within its bleak walls. I visited a few years ago and found lads from inner city London, bemused and [...]

February 23, 2010  Tags: , ,   Posted in: Children and young people  2 Comments

End of prisoner early release scheme announced

Ending this early release scheme is a welcome step, as the scheme did nothing to increase public confidence in the justice system. Nevertheless, the scheme was originally introduced for the very good reason that our prison system was full to capacity.  Even with the scheme in place prison overcrowding remained at crisis levels and now [...]

February 22, 2010  Tags:   Posted in: Government policy  2 Comments

Youth sentencing

The Prison Reform Trust has published statistics showing variation in the use of prison custody between youth courts across the country. Courts such as Bridgend, Rotherham (maybe it is to do with the food? remember that was Jamie Oliver’s shock horror television programme), Derby and Wolverhampton. The custody rates are not related to crime rates, [...]

February 16, 2010  Tags:   Posted in: Children and young people, Sentencing, Uncategorized  One Comment

Rape is rape, wherever and whenever

Apparently most people think that in some circumstances rape victims should accept responsibility for being attacked. This raises some interesting questions about our attitudes to victims and crime. 
The law punishes a perpetrator of a fraud against an employer with additional severity because it is a breach of trust. Yet, when a woman is raped by [...]

February 15, 2010  Tags:   Posted in: Uncategorized  One Comment

Lap dancing clubs and local powers

New powers for local authorities to refuse permission for a lap dancing club will be introduced in April. I think this is a welcome move for several reasons. I agree with Harriet Harman that local people should be able to decide for themselves if they want a sleazy club in the neighbourhood. It should be [...]

February 12, 2010  Tags: ,   Posted in: Government policy, Prisons  No Comments

Amnesty and platform sharing

Amnesty International is suffering some bad publicity because one of its staff has been suspended. She appears to be claiming that the organisation (don’t forget, Amnesty is not a charity) is linked too closely to a group called Cageprisoners, one of whose principal spokespeople is Moazzam Begg.  I don’t know if this is the case, [...]

February 11, 2010  Tags: , ,   Posted in: Uncategorized  One Comment

We should not conduct torture nor should we be complicit

The foreign secretary has lost an appeal court bid to stop the disclosure of secret information relating to the alleged torture of Binyam Mohamed. This was a clash of rival principles, state security against the protection of human rights and prevention of torture.
In 2003 the UK signed up to the optional protocol to the United [...]

February 10, 2010  Tags:   Posted in: Uncategorized  No Comments

Imprisoning charities

Yesterday morning I had a fascinating meeting with the Charity Commission about whether charities should manage prisons.  I went with Kevin Curley and others from NAVCA and met with Suzi Leather and her team.  We sought the meeting because we are concerned that two charities, Turning Point and Catch 22, have joined with Serco to [...]

February 3, 2010  Tags: , ,   Posted in: Government policy, Prisons, Public Services, Rehabilitation, Uncategorized  6 Comments

Too many initiatives and not enough resources for young people.

I spent Friday night with the Stay Safe programme in Salford. The local authority, police and youth offending service have staff who tour the streets of Salford every Friday night from 6pm until midnight in a marked police car and an unmarked car to find children and teenagers on the streets. I arranged my participation [...]

February 1, 2010   Posted in: Children and young people, Government policy  No Comments