Category Archives: Prisons and probation

Thousands of high-risk offenders in UK ‘freed into homelessness’

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Report warns of reoffending risk as 3,713 ex-prisoners in England lack safe housing

Thousands of high-risk convicted criminals, including those classed as violent and sexual offenders, were being released from prison in England into homelessness, increasing the likelihood of their reoffending, inspectors warned.

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP) said in a report that it was “particularly disturbed” to find that at least 3,713 people supervised by the National Probation Service, which is responsible for high-risk offenders, had left prison and become homeless from 2018 to 2019.

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‘Unrealistic’ appeals system fails prisoners who have been victims of abuse – report

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One month window to challenge convictions in England and Wales means women who have experienced trauma are unfairly criminalised, campaigners say

Women who have been unfairly convicted or sentenced to jail are being denied the chance to redress miscarriages of justice because the appeals system in England and Wales is not fit for purpose, the law group Appeal has alleged.

In particular, those who have been victims of trauma or domestic abuse are unable to make a legal challenge due to the “unrealistic” 28-day window allowed to make an application to the criminal Court of Appeal, the report highlights.

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Convicted terrorists less likely to reoffend than other criminals – study

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Research suggests 5% commit another terrorism offence after leaving prison

Convicted terrorists are extremely unlikely to reoffend compared with other prisoners, research by academics and security services in Europe has found.

The research shows that less than 5% of convicted terrorists commit a second terrorist offence after leaving prison. In England and Wales, around 45% of all prisoners will reoffend within a year of release.

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Pandemic potentially a ‘death sentence’ for many prison inmates, experts warn

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Lack of space and funding combined with often limited access to medical support increases vulnerability of prisoners, says study

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    • Chronic overcrowding and underfunding have left prisons around the world vulnerable to being ravaged by coronavirus, criminal justice experts have warned.

    The challenges of a record global prison population of 11 million have been brought to light in a report published by Penal Reform International (PRI) which found that 102 countries have prison occupancy levels of more than 110%.

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    Fire at Siberian penal colony after riot sparked by claims of brutality

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    Videos on social media show buildings alight in prison near Angarsk near Lake Baikal

    Fire has engulfed a penal colony in Siberia after a riot broke out – reportedly sparked by accusations of brutality.

    Videos posted to social media on Friday showed buildings ablaze at the IK-15 prison in the Siberian city of Angarsk, 2,500 miles southeast of Moscow and near Lake Baikal’s southern shore

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    Coronavirus: Scotland may release prisoners close to end of sentences

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    Plan under consideration due to ‘increasingly alarming’ situation in overcrowded prisons

    Prisoners approaching the end of their sentences could be released from next week, as the Scottish government moves to prevent an “increasingly alarming” coronavirus crisis in the country’s jails.

    Scotland’s justice secretary, Humza Yousaf, said on Friday that he was “actively considering” options for early release: “I cannot envisage a situation where we’re seeing the rate of infection, the spread of the virus in our prison establishment, the rate of absence amongst our prison officers and staff, where we do not release prisoners to make that a safer environment.”

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    ‘Everyone will be contaminated’: prisons face strict coronavirus controls

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    New WHO guidelines are aimed at protecting one of the most vulnerable sectors of society from the spread of Covid-19

    Prisons around the world can expect “huge mortality rates” from Covid-19 unless they take immediate action including screening for the disease, the World Health Organization has warned.

    All visitors to prisons along with staff and new admissions should be subject to airport-style temperature testing and health assessments at point of entry, the agency has recommended under new guidelines published today.

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    Vulnerable prisoners ‘exploited’ to make coronavirus masks and hand gel

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    Inmates making masks and hand sanitiser to ease shortages are among most vulnerable to Covid-19, prison reformers warn

    Prison labour is being used to shore up supplies of face masks and hand gels in Hong Kong and the USA as campaigners warn that inmates are among the most vulnerable to Covid-19 infections.

    Women inmates at the Lo Wu prison in Hong Kong have reportedly been asked to work night shifts to make 2.5m face masks a month after a huge rise in demand according to Reuters.

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    EU vows to help nationals ‘outside the mainstream’ stay in UK

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    Bloc’s first UK ambassador says right to remain for many vulnerable Europeans must be protected

    Prisoners and members of the Roma community, along with elderly people and the poorest in society, will be the focus of a new EU push to help Europeans “outside the mainstream” to remain in the UK after Brexit.

    There are concerns that thousands of EU nationals will fail to apply to the Home Office to stay because they lack information or the means to see the digital application process through.

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    Minister denies prison cuts made terrorism suspects hard to track

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    Rishi Sunak defends policies amid backlash over early release of Streatham attacker

    The chief secretary to the Treasury has rejected the idea that cuts to prison and probation services have made it harder to rehabilitate or monitor terrorism suspects after a man who left prison days ago was shot dead by police after he stabbed two people in London.

    Rishi Sunak declined to reveal the measures that Boris Johnson or the home secretary, Priti Patel, would announce on Monday after the attack by Sudesh Amman on Streatham High Road.

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    Prisons chaos fuels massive legal costs as violence surges

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    Shock figures reveal £30m-a-year claims as experts blame cuts and overcrowding

    Boris Johnson is under renewed pressure to deal with the prisons crisis after it emerged that the chaotic conditions are behind a £30m-a-year bill for legal claims.

    Figures obtained by the Observer reveal that the prison and probation service in England and Wales has paid out more than £85m over three years for issues such as attacks on staff and prisoners, lost and damaged property, accidental personal injury and delays to inmates being released.

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    Top-security Northern Irish jail lets in secular chaplains for first time

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    Atheist inmates at Maghaberry prison can now get pastoral care from humanist carers

    Non-religious pastors have been allowed for the first time to run a secular “chaplaincy service” for atheist prisoners inside a top-security jail holding some of the most dangerous paramilitary prisoners in Europe.

    Prisoners who do not believe in God inside Maghaberry jail in Northern Ireland can now speak with humanist carers.

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    London Bridge attack follows ‘dumbing down’ of freed terrorist scheme – expert

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    Strategy to manage extremist convicts has been stripped of vital human touch, says probation unit founder

    The architect of the government programme for moving convicted terrorists from prison into the community believes the current system lacks the “legitimacy and credibility” required to rehabilitate extremists safely.

    Simon Cornwall, who set up the probation service’s central extremism unit, said that as a result of “a dumbing down of how things are done”, the current approach was missing the safeguarding and human relationships required to modify behaviour and reduce risk.

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    London Bridge attack: girlfriend praises ‘phenomenal’ Jack Merritt

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    Prisoner course coordinator opened doors for marginalised in society, says Leanne O’Brien

    The girlfriend of Jack Merritt, killed in the London Bridge terror attack, has paid an emotional tribute to the “phenomenal” Cambridge graduate.

    Leanne O’Brien, who was comforted by family members as she wept during a vigil for Merritt in Cambridge on Monday, said her boyfriend had “opened so many doors for those that society turned their backs on”.

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    Tories aim to distract from Brexit with crime-focused Queen’s speech

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    Heavier sentences for violent criminals among policies aimed at wooing Labour voters

    Violent and sexual criminals as well as foreign national offenders who return to the UK will face drastically heavier penalties under measures that will form the centrepiece of a Queen’s speech aimed at wresting the agenda away from the delicate Brexit negotiations.

    With just days to go before the deadline for Boris Johnson to clinch a last-ditch Brexit deal in Brussels, the Queen will on Monday set out his government’s priorities for a new session of parliament, including 22 new bills.

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    Baby dies in UK prison after inmate ‘gives birth alone in cell’

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    Police investigate unexplained death at Bronzefield women’s prison in Surrey

    Police are investigating the death of a baby in Britain’s largest female prison after an inmate gave birth alone in her cell at night.

    The Guardian understands that the woman, who had been at an advanced stage of pregnancy, gave birth alone in her cell in the early hours of Friday last week. A source with knowledge of the events said that when prison staff visited the woman’s cell on Friday morning the baby was unresponsive.

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    Muslim community shuns women released from prison, says report

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    There is a ‘much more forgiving attitude’ towards Muslim male offenders, say former convicts

    The Muslim community in Britain shuns women who have been to prison while forgiving convicted men, “no matter what they’ve done”, according to a report.

    Female former prisoners told researchers, Muslim experts in the criminal justice system, that they suffered a “conspiracy of silence” after being released from jail, having to hide or move away in order to not bring shame on their families.

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    Mentally ill prisoners face months-long waits for hospital transfer

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    Exclusive: Prisoners are being left awaiting adequate treatment for up to half a year

    Prisoners with severe mental health problems are waiting up to six months to be transferred to hospital to get treatment, a Guardian investigation has found.

    Government guidelines in England and Wales stipulate that prisoners who are acutely mentally ill should be transferred to a hospital within 14 days of the first medical recommendation. But according to an analysis of Ministry of Justice data, hundreds of prisoners a year are being left awaiting adequate treatment.

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    Gangs using dead rats to smuggle drugs into Dorset prison

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    Ministry of Justice says criminals are stuffing rodents with drugs and mobile phones

    • Warning: this article includes graphic images some readers may find disturbing

    Related: ‘It’s not just you who does the jail sentence, it’s the whole family’ | Clare Horton

    Criminal gangs are using dead rats to smuggle contraband material such as drugs and mobile phones into jail, the Prison Service has said.

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    More than 1,000 claims of child sexual abuse in custody, inquiry reveals

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    Chair of inquiry ‘deeply disturbed’ by allegations from young offender institutions

    Children in custody are still not safe from sexual abuse after more than 1,000 attacks were alleged from 2009 to 2017, a statutory inquiry has found.

    Prof Alexis Jay, the chairwoman of the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse, said on Thursday she was deeply disturbed by what the inquiry found as it published a report that described the scale of alleged abuse in young offender institutions (YOIs) and secure training centres (STCs) as “shockingly high”.

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