We know that this government is keen on imprisonment, it is after all investing £4 billion to create 20,000 new prison places and the prison population is expected to increase by almost a quarter over the next three years. The governments tough stance on crime is not restricted to incarceration… The number of individuals being actively monitored with a location monitoring device (GPS) has more than doubled...
Although the judiciary wields enormous power over individuals, its operations are alarmingly under-scrutinised, and one area that has remained largely beyond examination is judicial racial bias. The research by the University of Manchester and a part-time crown court judge who is a training tutor for the Judicial College, is an… A new report from the University of Manchester and a part-time crown court judge raises urgent questions about racial attitudes and practices in the justice system....
In the report, Ms McAllister who was the the Ombudsman from October 2018 to June 2022, highlights a number of issues. The PPO investigates deaths of prisoners, young people in detention, offenders under probation supervision and individuals detained under immigration powers (detained individuals). The report highlights the case of Baby… Former Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO) Sue McAllister has today published her final Annual Report, covering the year 2021-22....
Ahead of the government's medium-term fiscal plan, the Institute for Government (IFG)/Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) has published its annual public services stocktake. The report is determinedly downbeat, revealing that public services won’t have returned to pre-pandemic performance by the next election, which in most cases was… It is increasingly hard to retain prison staff due to better pay and conditions elsewhere, including other parts of the public sector, particularly the police, a new report has warned. ...
The review finds that many immigration detainees get stuck in custody for long periods with little or no progress in their cases being made by the Home Office. An indication of the scale of the problem was the story of one detainee who told inspectors she had agreed to return… A review of the experience of immigration detainees held in prisons published today by the prison inspectorate has found that they were markedly disadvantaged compared with those held in immigration removal centres (IRCs)...
The reforms on policies as to where to house inmates will also apply to transgender women who have been convicted of a sex offence. It follows Justice Secretary Brandon Lewis telling the Conservative Party conference last week : “It cannot be right that transgender prisoners, when convicted of serious sexual… Brandon Lewis has said that transgender prisoners with male genitalia should no longer be held in women’s prisons. ...
We have known for many years that a disproportionate number of women are in prison for (very) short sentences and that their, often complex, needs would be much more appropriately met in the community by our network of women’s centres. A new report published last Friday by the charity Women… The charity Women in Prison who run women's centres say there is a funding gap in provision of alternatives to custody ...
Prisons in England and Wales are struggling to provide safe, humane and rehabilitative regimes, due to the aftermath of the severe Covid restrictions, current staffing problems and other pressures, say the independent monitoring boards (IMBs) in their national annual report, published today. What are Independent Monitoring Boards? Independent Monitoring Boards… The national annual report from Independent Monitoring Boards records an ‘exceptionally challenging year’ in prisons....
Over recent months we have covered the issue of the electronic tagging of offenders on a number of occasions as the Ministry of Justice has followed through with its commitment to expand the use of tags. There are now a number of different tags in place: the basic tag used… The number of offenders being monitored with tags is growing driven by extensions to new offender cohorts, such as those subject to immigration bail, as well as the roll-out of alcohol monitoring tags....
While probation requirements can include certain drug testing requirements – the MoJ has now said that anyone staying in probation hostels will be randomly tested for 14 different types of drugs twice during their stay. Meanwhile, those who do already have drug testing requirements will be tested more frequently –… Offenders who stay in probation hostels or Approved Premises will now be subject to mandatory drug testing regardless of the offence(s) they committed or their previous drug history. ...