Category Archives: Prisons and probation

Convicted murderer fears prison ‘hit’ as victim’s family campaign for release

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Jason Moore says he learned of £10k reward to have him stabbed shortly after court of appeal application

A man in prison for a murder of which the victim’s family believes he is innocent says he fears for his life after learning intelligence of a hit ordered on him.

Jason Moore’s conviction for stabbing to death Robert Darby in an east London pub car park in 2005 relied heavily on witness testimony that is now in doubt. The victim’s brother, Tim Darby, is among those campaigning for Moore’s release.

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Meet the Outlaw escaping from prisons in protest against indefinite detention

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Joe Outlaw is one of 2,921 inmates still on IPP sentences, which were abolished in 2012

It should be impossible to escape from a high-security prison, doubly so for prisoners held on the segregation unit, who are allowed only to exercise in a caged yard.

But on 21 June, the summer solstice and the hottest day of the year at that point, Joe Outlaw managed to break through the cage and get on to the roof of HMP Frankland, a Durham prison dubbed “Monster mansion” due to many of its inmates being convicted murderers, terrorists and sex offenders.

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Over 5,500 unpaid work orders not completed after two years in England and Wales

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Exclusive: Orders should be done within a year of sentence as experts blame ‘chronic understaffing’ in probation service

More than 5,500 unpaid work orders that form part of community sentences have not been completed more than two years after being handed down, with experts blaming “chronic understaffing” in the probation service.

Ordinarily the orders, which can be for between 40 and 300 hours, should be completed within 12 months of sentence. Figures show there are more than 15,100 unpaid work orders not completed in that time in England and Wales,

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High-risk prisoners sit GCSE English – and many outperform peers on outside

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Inmates at HMP Frankland in County Durham, some of ‘hardest to reach people in society’, did course in a year with no internet access

Inmates serving long sentences at one of the UK’s most secure prisons have been allowed to study GCSE English for the first time and have outperformed many of their peers on the outside.

More than three-quarters of the small cohort of prisoners who sat the exam at HMP Frankland in County Durham secured a pass at grade 4 or above – equivalent to a C – which is almost three times the success rate in further education colleges in England.

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Drones to be banned from flying near prisons in England and Wales

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Change means drone operators could face fines up to £2,500 for flying within 400 metres of prisons or young offender institutions

New “no-fly zones” will be introduced around prisons in England and Wales to prevent drones being used to deliver drugs and contraband to inmates.

The legal change will mean drone operators could face fines of up to £2,500 for flying within 400 metres of closed prisons or young offender institutions.

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Tory MP Peter Bone should be suspended for six weeks for bullying and sexual misconduct, says report – UK politics live

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Commons will vote on suspension recommended by independent expert panel after investigation

Peter Bone has issued a statement saying that the bullying and sexual misconduct claims about him made by a former employed, that have led to the IEP recommending a six-week suspension, are false and without foundation. He says the complainant did not raise them at the time and only submitted a complaint years after they had left.

As I have maintained throughout these proceedings, none of the misconduct allegations against me ever took place. They are false and untrue claims. They are without foundation.

The allegations by an ex-employee refer to events of more than 10 years ago that spanned no more than a few months. The complainant first made the allegations years after they left my employment. They did not raise them at any time during their employment, either in writing or verbally with me, nor with their line managers …

I am also firmly of the opinion that on this occasion the independent complaints and grievance scheme investigation was flawed, procedurally unfair and didn’t comply with its own rules and regulations. It is my belief that they have operated outside of the powers given to them by parliament and I am currently discussing with lawyers what action could and should be taken.

The commissioner found the following allegations proved:

Allegation 1: Mr Bone “verbally belittled, ridiculed, abused and humiliated” the complainant, and this was bullying.

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Two-thirds of prisons officially overcrowded in England and Wales

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HMP Wandsworth holding more extra prisoners than any other jail despite recent high-profile problems

Two-thirds of prisons in England and Wales are officially overcrowded, with HMP Wandsworth holding more extra prisoners than any other jail despite the alleged escape of a terror suspect last month.

In September there were 663 more men in Wandsworth than the 950 the south London prison has “good, decent” accommodation for, under the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) definition. That means prisoners sharing cells designed for one, often with a toilet in the middle shielded by a curtain.

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Prisons plan could add 1,000 places in England and Wales amid overcrowding

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Use of portable buildings and more doubling up in cells could be part of package to be announced next week

Prisoners in England and Wales could be moved into portable buildings or released early as part of a huge extension of the electronic tagging scheme, as the justice secretary considers creative measures to solve the overcrowding crisis.

Alex Chalk KC is expected to reveal a package of measures on Monday that could add 1,000 prison places across the estate, the Guardian understands.

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Women’s groups criticise move to delay sentencing in England and Wales

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Government accused of letting down victims as full prisons mean convicted criminals will spend longer on bail

Victims of crime in England and Wales are being let down by a government that has failed to provide adequate resources to the criminal justice system, women’s groups have said, after it emerged that sentencing hearings of convicted criminals currently on bail – including rapists and burglars – were to be delayed because prisons are full.

It has been reported that the senior presiding judge for England and Wales, Lord Justice Edis, issued the guidance on a private call with senior crown court judges. A government source told the Guardian it applied to those who had been on bail throughout the court process and had, therefore, already been assessed as lower risk.

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First minister says SNP MP who defected to Tories ‘probably never believed’ in Scottish independence – as it happened

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Humza Yousaf says Lisa Cameron’s move was ‘the least surprising news I’ve had as leader of the SNP’

NHS waiting lists have hit a new record high, with more people facing long waits, PA Media reports. PA says:

Figures for the NHS in England show 7.75 million people were waiting to start treatment at the end of August, up from 7.68 million in July.

This is the highest number since records began in August 2007 and comes despite Rishi Sunak saying cutting waiting lists is one of his priorities.

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Staff shortages an issue amid ‘deeply worrying’ prison deaths in England

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Inquests flag up gaps in the care of prisoners in relation to at least nine deaths in custody since 2021

Prison understaffing and workload issues have been flagged in at least nine inquests into deaths in custody since the start of 2021, according to an Observer analysis of coroners’ reports.

Issues raised include gaps in monitoring of prisoners due to understaffing, a lack of prison-based clinical staff and shortcomings in the keyworker programme. Coroners have also repeatedly identified problems with staff training and the assessment, care in custody and teamwork (ACCT) process for prisoners identified as being at risk of suicide or self-harm.

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Prisoner in critical condition after stabbing at HMP Wandsworth

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Attack comes in the week that Daniel Khalife escaped from the jail in south-west London

An inmate at HMP Wandsworth is in a critical condition in hospital after being stabbed inside the prison.

The Metropolitan police and London ambulance service were called at about 3.20pm on Sunday to reports of an assault inside the facility in south-west London after an “incident” between prisoners.

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Calm settles in leafy Chiswick after drama of terror suspect Daniel Khalife manhunt

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After sightings in the area, teams descended to search gardens with dogs and check vehicles, while helicopters whirred overhead. Now picnics and sunbathing can resume

The Saturday morning news that Daniel Khalife, the terror suspect who escaped from HMP Wandsworth on Wednesday morning, had been spotted in Chiswick caused predictable intrigue in the leafy west London district. Police swiftly mustered in the area. Some drivers were being stopped and others reportedly asked for identification.

A police helicopter had been whirring overhead for much of the night and some residents said they had awoken to find officers sweeping through gardens. Police dog handlers and armed officers were all spotted along one of the area’s main roads by early morning.

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Germany refuses to extradite man to UK over concerns about British jail conditions

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Court in Karlsruhe decides against extradition of Albanian man ‘in view of the state of the British prison system’

A German court has refused to extradite to the UK a man accused of drug trafficking because of concerns about prison conditions in Britain, in what is thought to be the first case of its kind.

The decision has been described as a “severe rebuke” and “an embarrassment for the UK” by a member of the Law Society.

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UN highlights ‘psychological harm’ to UK man jailed since 2012 for phone theft

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Exclusive: Expert repeats call to review indefinite sentences such as Thomas White’s, whose family says now suffers from psychosis

A UN torture expert has called the case of a man driven to psychosis after being jailed in the UK for more than a decade for stealing a mobile phone “emblematic of the psychological harm” caused by indeterminate sentences.

Thomas White was handed an imprisonment for public protection (IPP) sentence in 2012 for stealing a mobile phone – four months before such prison terms were abolished. He has been in jail ever since after initially receiving a minimum two-year tariff.

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Probation service pays undisclosed sum to ex-contractor after racial harassment

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Lloyd Odain was subjected to discrimination, including monkey chants, in 2019 while working for the service

HM Prison and Probation Service has paid an undisclosed settlement to a former contractor who endured racial discrimination and harassment, including monkey chants.

Lloyd Odain, who worked for the probation service, was subject to incidents of racial discrimination by another contractor in 2019.

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Ian Watkins, singer jailed for child sex offences, ‘stabbed in prison’

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Former Lostprophets frontman reportedly taken to hospital after being held hostage by other inmates at HMP Wakefield

Ian Watkins, the former lead singer with Lostprophets who was jailed for 29 years for child sex offences, has reportedly been stabbed at HMP Wakefield.

He is said to have been taken to hospital after being stabbed at the prison in West Yorkshire.

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Wrongly convicted in Britain no longer forced to pay ‘saved living costs’ in prison

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The government has scrapped controversial guidance over deductions to compensation in miscarriage of justice cases

People who have been wrongly convicted will no longer have to pay living expenses for the time they spent in prison, the government will announce on Sunday after widespread outrage over the case of Andrew Malkinson.

One of Britain’s longest-serving victims of a miscarriage of justice, Malkinson, 57, had his conviction overturned last month by the court of appeal after spending 17 years in prison for a rape he did not commit.

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Jailing shoplifters will not address root causes, says senior Tory

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Sir Bob Neill criticises government plan for failing to consider mental health and addiction problems of many offenders

Ministers cannot “warehouse” addicts and people with mental health problems who commit crimes such as shoplifting, a senior Conservative MP has said in response to a plan to give shoplifters mandatory sentences.

Sir Bob Neill, the chair of the Commons justice select committee, said the new policy would “pump low-level offenders” into almost-full jails at huge public expense and do nothing to change the “chaotic lives” of offenders.

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Fix ‘endemic’ problems in youth custody, urges prisons watchdog

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Monitoring boards chief warns of poor conditions at four young offender institutions in England

A prisons watchdog has warned that poor conditions are “endemic” at four young offender institutions in England and urged ministers to take urgent action to improve them.

In her new role as the national chair of the Independent Monitoring Boards (IMBs), Elisabeth Davies has taken the unusual step of writing a letter to the prisons minister, Damian Hinds, to raise serious concerns about the welfare of children in YOIs in England.

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