Category Archives: UK criminal justice

Some crime victims ‘unaware’ of offenders’ early prison release in England and Wales

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‘Sizeable minority’ of survivors of crime have not been informed that perpetrators will be freed on Tuesday

Hundreds of survivors of crime are unaware that their perpetrators will be freed on Tuesday despite requests that this would not happen, the victims’ commissioner has claimed.

As the government prepares to release 1,700 offenders to ease overcrowding in prisons in England and Wales, Helen Newlove said some victims were “unaware of their offender’s release” and could not seek protective measures.

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Justice for Grenfell deaths may not come this decade, warns former chief prosecutor

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Lord Macdonald warns of likely delays in criminal justice system as survivors denounce ‘arrogant’ building firms

Justice for those responsible for the 72 deaths in the Grenfell Tower fire may not come until the end of this decade, a former chief prosecutor has warned, as survivors voiced growing fury over building firms’ “arrogant” refusal to admit wrongdoing.

The public inquiry findings of “systematic dishonesty” by multimillion-dollar building companies involved in the tower’s disastrous refurbishment prompted a clamour for accelerated criminal charges this week, seven years on from the blaze.

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Rochester prison given urgent notification after ‘systemic failure and decline’

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It is the first time such notification has been given to a category C prison focusing on training and resettlement

A Kent prison has become the first of its kind to be issued with an urgent notification after a decade of “systemic failure and decline”, the chief inspector of prisons has confirmed.

HMP Rochester is the seventh prison to have received such a notification since November 2022, but has become the first category C prison, which focuses on training and resettlement, to receive one. The urgent notification process was introduced in 2017 and is a means of raising immediate concerns following an inspection and requires a response and action plan from the secretary of state within 28 days.

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‘Broken’ prison system sets inmates up to fail, top Scottish inspector says

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Lack of funding, resources and rehabilitation leads to ‘bored and angry’ prisoners, Wendy Sinclair-Gieben says

The prison system is “broken”, with inmates returning to the community “bored and angry” and “set up to fail”, according to Scotland’s outgoing chief inspector.

Wendy Sinclair-Gieben highlighted a succession of failings in a service she described as “the underdog of the criminal justice system”, as she stands down as HM chief inspector of prisons for Scotland at the end of August.

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HMP Wandsworth living conditions are ‘inhumane’, finds report

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Rat-infested London jail from which terror suspect escaped is unsafe and overcrowded, say independent monitors

Wandsworth prison is crumbling, overcrowded and vermin-infested, with inmates living in half the cell space available when it was first opened in 1851, according to a report published on Thursday.

The south London prison’s independent monitoring board identified a litany of failings in its annual report, concluding that “the prison is not safe” and “conditions remained inhumane”.

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Prison crowding emergency measures a ‘sticking plaster’, Starmer told

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Ministers activate Operation Early Dawn, so defendants can be held in police cells as more are sentenced over riots

Ministers have been warned that they have placed a “sticking plaster” over a crumbling criminal justice system after emergency measures were activated to ease prison overcrowding, as more people are sentenced for their role in the recent riots.

The longstanding measures, known as Operation Early Dawn, allow defendants to be held in police cells until prison places become available and could mean their court dates are delayed or adjourned at short notice.

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Crisis measures to tackle English prison overcrowding imminent, says union

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POA chair says ministers could declare as soon as Monday that Operation Early Dawn is coming into force

The launch of an emergency plan to avoid prison overcrowding in England could be announced as soon as Monday, the Prison Officers’ Association has said.

The longstanding measure, known as Operation Early Dawn, would allow defendants to be held in police cells until prison beds became available and could mean their court dates are delayed or adjourned at short notice.

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Labour urged to scrap £4bn Tory mega-jails plan and fund rehabilitation

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Exclusive: Former chief inspector of prisons Nick Hardwick says money would be better spent preventing crime

Ministers should scrap Conservative plans to build new mega-jails and pour £4bn into the prevention of crime and rehabilitation instead, the former chief inspector of prisons has said.

Nick Hardwick, who is also a former head of the Parole Board, said a huge expansion of the prison system would not solve the problem, especially when average custodial sentences are rising.

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UK government will not repay ‘bed and board’ deductions to all wrongfully imprisoned

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Miscarriage of justice victims say money taken from compensation payouts is additional punishment

A government minister has ruled out reimbursing some victims of miscarriages of justice after living expenses for the time they spent in prison were deducted from their compensation payments.

Last year, the then justice secretary, Alex Chalk, scrapped the policy of making deductions from all future payouts after the case of Andrew Malkinson, who was wrongfully imprisoned for 17 years.

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Ministers prepare extra 500 prison places to remand suspected rioters

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Former young offender institution repurposed and abandoned cells made safe, while early release scheme continues

Ministers are preparing an additional 500 prison places to cope with an influx of people expected to be held on remand over the next month, the Ministry of Justice said on Monday.

From next week, cells will be used at the newly repurposed HMP Cookham Wood, a former young offender institution in the village of Borstal in Kent, that was closed in March after it was called “inhumane” by a prison watchdog.

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Just Stop Oil jail terms raise questions over harsh treatment of protesters

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Lengthy prison sentences seen by many as heavy-handed and prompt comparisons with other offences

The lengthy jail terms handed to five supporters of the Just Stop Oil (JSO) climate campaign on Thursday – believed to be the longest ever meted out in the UK for non-violent protest – have sent shock waves through the protest community an d beyond.

The five-year sentence for Roger Hallam and four-year terms imposed on Daniel Shaw, Louise Lancaster, Lucia Whittaker De Abreu and Cressida Gethin are being seen by many as the latest heavy-handed response to protesters, particularly those urging action on the climate crisis.

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For many, Andrew Malkinson’s case a sign the CCRC has lost its way

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Those close to Criminal Cases Review Commission’s work hope review will pave way for change in leadership and purpose

Andrew Malkinson had only just stepped outside the court of appeal last summer when he received a message of apology from Greater Manchester police. It was the force’s work that ultimately led to his wrongful conviction for rape, leaving him incarcerated for 17 years.

Malkinson was unimpressed by their late contrition, but there was another body that refused to apologise at all that day. Yet their work – or lack of it – prolonged his time behind bars by a decade.

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Rishi Sunak ‘risked breaching legal responsibilities over prison crisis’

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Exclusive: leaked letters said without urgent action the system in England and Wales would reach ‘critical failure’

Rishi Sunak was warned by senior civil servants a week before he called the election that he was at risk of breaching his legal responsibilities if he failed to take action over the prison overcrowding crisis, a leaked document reveals.

The advice, sent to the former prime minister on 15 May, said that failing to make an urgent decision on prison capacity would mean the criminal justice system in England and Wales reaching the point of “critical failure”.

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Sunak and ministers are ‘guilty men’ in prisons crisis, says justice secretary

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Shabana Mahmood says Tories left country threatened with total breakdown of law and order

Rishi Sunak and his former ministers are “the guilty men” who should be held responsible for “the most disgraceful dereliction of duty” by failing to address the prisons crisis, the justice secretary has said.

Speaking as she set out plans to release thousands of inmates early to ease pressure in overcrowded jails, Shabana Mahmood said the Conservatives “had left the country threatened with a total breakdown of law and order”.

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Could Britain solve its prisons crisis by going Dutch?

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After the UK justice minister praised the system in the Netherlands, experts there say the reality is more complex

Earlier this year, before he became the UK justice minister, James Timpson described how Britain should follow the Dutch example of mild sentencing to help solve the prisons crisis.

“They have shut half their prisons not because people are less naughty in Holland,” he told Channel 4. “It’s because they have a different way of sentencing, which is community sentencing so people can stay at home, keep their jobs, keep their homes, keep reading their children bedtime stories, and it means they are far less likely to commit crime again. A custodial sentence is not always the right thing.”

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Starmer ‘shocked’ about prisons crisis as early release scheme prepared

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Government to announce terms which could free more than 20,000 inmates in coming months to manage capacity

The “shocking” prisons crisis is even worse than feared, Keir Starmer has said as the government prepares to release tens of thousands of inmates early in a bid to prevent jails becoming full.

The prime minister suggested he was opposed to freeing violent criminals and sex offenders when ministers announce the terms of a new prisoner release scheme for England and Wales on Friday.

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From a plea deal to a 2am prison call: how Julian Assange finally gained freedom

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A lawyer’s offer, a judgment that foretold years of legal wrangling, and diplomatic pressure all played a part in the release of the WikiLeaks founder

• Julian Assange released from prison – live updates

It was, as his friends described it, the “last kick of the British establishment”. At 2am on Monday, Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, was woken in his small cell in the high-security Belmarsh prison, south-east London, and ordered to dress before being put in handcuffs.

It was the beginning of the end of Assange’s incarceration in Britain but it was going to be on his jailers’ terms.

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Prisons in England and Wales will be at ‘breaking point’ in July, governors told

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Exclusive: heads of prisons say they will no longer be able to accept new inmates ‘very soon’ after 4 July election

Prison governors have been warned that jails will be so overcrowded by the second week of July that they will struggle to accept any more inmates, plunging an incoming government into an immediate crisis.

The heads of jails in England and Wales were informed by HM Prison and Probation Service officials earlier this month that data pointed to an “operational capacity breaking point” only days after the 4 July general election.

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UK ministers to be challenged in human rights court over protest injunctions

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Friends of the Earth will argue private companies are allowed to create their own public order laws that stifle demonstrations

The government is to be challenged at the European court of human rights over its use of “confusing and opaque” anti-protest injunctions.

The environmental group Friends of the Earth (FoE) is to argue such injunctions allow private companies to create bespoke public order laws that stifle peaceful protest.

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Court backlog target in England and Wales no longer achievable, says NAO

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Watchdog says outstanding caseload has increased from 60,000 to 67,573 since MoJ set target of 53,000 in 2021

The Ministry of Justice’s ambition to reduce the backlog in crown courts in England and Wales to 53,000 by March next year is no longer achievable, a parliamentary watchdog has said.

The MoJ set the target in October 2021 when the outstanding caseload was 60,000, but by the end of last year it had reached 67,573 – its highest level ever – according to a National Audit Office (NAO) report.

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