Report on Bristol prison

The chief inspector’s report published today (15 June) on Bristol prison – as with all local prisons – is really depressing. Bristol opened in 1883 and holds 605 men, despite only having places for 428. Young men, some still teenagers, are forced to share cells with older men and staff have no special training for [...]

June 15, 2010  Tags: ,   Posted in: Prisons  No Comments

Inspection report on Hindley prison

The chief inspector of prisons has published an inspection report on Hindley, the biggest prison for children in Europe. Firstly, we should be ashamed that in England we have the biggest child jail in Europe. There are nearly ten times the number of children incarcerated in this one prison than in the whole of Italy. [...]

March 26, 2010  Tags: , ,   Posted in: Children and young people, Prisons  No Comments

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

No fantasyland

The prisons inspectorate is publishing its inspection of a unit inside a prison that holds young girls – the Rivendell (yes, land of the elves) unit inside New Hall prison today.
Whilst the report is broadly favourable, it should be seen in the context of prisons being totally the wrong environment for young girls. The Howard [...]

January 29, 2010  Tags: ,   Posted in: Inside prisons, Prisons  No Comments