New rules also cover transgender women ‘with their male genitalia intact’, says Dominic Raab
Rules barring some transgender women from female prisons in England and Wales are to come into force on Monday, the justice secretary has announced.
Dominic Raab had already announced in October that trans women with male genitalia or who had committed sexual offences would not be allowed in women’s prisons.
Continue reading...Politicians, campaigners and UN special rapporteur concerned by case of Isla Bryson, who offended before she had transitioned
Politicians, campaigners and a UN special rapporteur have all expressed grave concerns that a transgender woman found guilty of raping two women before transitioning is being remanded in a female prison.
Opponents of the Scottish government’s gender recognition reforms – which the UK government has blocked from going for royal assent because of “safety issues for women and children” – said that the case vindicated their concerns about lack of safeguards in the bill.
Continue reading...Growing number of offenders on remand in England and Wales not offered support before being freed, prisons inspector says
Potentially dangerous prisoners are spending years on remand before disappearing into the community after their release without being properly monitored, the prisons watchdog has warned.
Charlie Taylor, HM’s chief inspector of prisons, said a restructuring of probation services last year failed to address the growing number of offenders held on remand who are not offered support before being freed.
Continue reading...Watchdog report uncovers series of failings in supervision of Jordan McSweeney, who murdered the law graduate last year
Ministers and the probation service have been accused of having “blood on their hands” after a watchdog uncovered failings which left a violent, woman-hating racist free to murder the law graduate Zara Aleena.
Jordan McSweeney should have been seen by probation officers as a high-risk offender with a long history of misogynistic and racially aggravated incidents and recalled to prison after missing appointments, the chief inspector of probation, Justin Russell, said.
Continue reading...Offences committed in England and Wales have included murder, kidnap, and child rape, study of data shows
Nearly 900,000 offences including murder, kidnap, and child rape, have been committed by people on bail in England and Wales since the Conservatives came to power, a new analysis has found.
The latest government figures show more than 20,000 offences were committed by those released from custody as they awaited a hearing, equating to 55 offences a day.
Continue reading...Almost every facet of life in the UK – courts to cost of living, transport to healthcare, environment to asylum system – is at breaking point
In mid-November Rishi Sunak was asked in a Channel 4 interview to name one public service that “was working, adequately, working properly”.
The prime minister didn’t give a direct answer. But the exchange feeds into an ever-more-common discourse: that the UK is facing “polycrisis” in almost every facet of life in Britain. From courts to the cost of living, transport to healthcare, environment to the asylum system – everywhere appears to be affected.
Continue reading...Examination exposes failure to track repeat suspects and botched investigations by struggling forces
A damning official examination into how police forces tackle rape has exposed persistent failings in the criminal justice system, including a failure to track repeat suspects, “explicit victim-blaming” and botched investigations.
The long-awaited independent report into the first year of Operation Soteria Bluestone – launched by the government after a catastrophic fall in rape prosecutions – also paints a picture of a over-worked, traumatised and inexperienced police workforce in England and Wales, which is struggling to cope with an increase in rape reports after years of austerity.
Continue reading...Thousands of prisoners still serving indefinite sentences in England and Wales, even for low-level crime
Dominic Raab is being urged to show mercy to prisoners in England and Wales who remain jailed under a sentencing scheme abolished 10 years ago.
The imprisonment for public protection (IPP) sentence was a form of indeterminate sentence in which offenders were given a minimum jail tariff but no maximum for a range of crimes. Nearly 3,000 legacy prisoners remain in jail under the scheme.
Continue reading...Prisons minister writes to police chiefs to establish Operation Safeguard due to lack of space in men’s prisons
Dominic Raab has been accused of presiding over a “foolish and unrealistic” prisons policy after his department was forced to request the emergency use of 400 police cells for inmates for the first time in 14 years.
Ministers blamed the recent barristers’ strike for an “acute and sudden increase in the prison population” of 800 in the last two months – a claim that was challenged by charities, MPs and unions.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Andy Marsh, head of the College of Policing, calls for new code of practice to mend bond of trust with women
One of the most senior figures in policing in England and Wales is calling for a new gold standard for gender-based violence investigations, saying women have been “systematically failed” by the criminal justice system. Andy Marsh, the chief executive of the College of Policing, said he wanted a new code of practice for the policing of violence against women and girls – the first since the police code of ethics was introduced eight years ago – saying the bond of trust between women and the police “must be mended”.
The move comes after a damning official report into misogyny in policing – ordered after the kidnap, rape and murder of Sarah Everard in March 2021 by a serving Metropolitan police officer – found defective vetting and failures by police leaders had allowed potentially thousands of “predatory” officers into police ranks.
Continue reading...Former Wimbledon champion trains at Huntercombe prison where he is serving time for hiding assets, German tabloid reports
Boris Becker is reported to have lost weight and won friends in the UK prison where he is serving a sentence related to his 2017 bankruptcy, according to a German newspaper.
The former Wimbledon champion was transferred from Wandsworth prison to Huntercombe prison near Nuffield, Oxfordshire, in May. In April he was jailed for two and a half years for concealing £2.5m of assets to avoid paying money he owed after his bankruptcy.
Continue reading...Inmates in England and Wales still held under ‘imprisonment for public protection’ scheme scrapped 10 years ago
Almost 3,000 prisoners in England and Wales stuck behind bars under an abolished “irredeemably flawed” indefinite sentencing scheme should be re-sentenced, MPs and peers have said.
The indefinite nature of jail terms under the imprisonment for public protection (IPP) scheme has contributed to feelings of hopelessness and despair that has resulted in high levels of self-harm and some suicides among prisoners, according to the justice select committee.
Continue reading...Technology’s use in crown courts will spare victims trauma of testifying in live trial setting
The use of pre-recorded evidence of victims and witnesses to crimes has been introduced at crown courts in England and Wales.
The Ministry of Justice said that from Monday the technology would be available at a final 20 crown courts in Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, East Anglia, Essex, London and the south-east, marking the end of a national rollout.
Continue reading...Justice secretary criticised by senior officials after board is ‘last to hear’ about important policy changes
Dominic Raab was accused by a senior Parole Board official of making a “difficult job next to impossible” after making big policy changes without notice, newly uncovered documents show.
Members of the Parole Board also said the justice secretary would have to increase the number of prison places by 800 every year if he was to force through major changes.
Continue reading...Annual figures indicate ‘dramatic collapse’ in confidence in criminal justice system, says Labour
Almost 1.5 million victims of crime in England and Wales have decided not to pursue their cases, feeding concern that public confidence in the criminal justice system has collapsed.
Home Office figures unearthed by Labour show there were 1,411,650 victims who did not support continuing action after they had reported a crime in the year to March 2022.
Continue reading...Analysis: viewers stand to gain an insight into judges’ decision-making at a time when transparency is being reduced elsewhere
Almost 100 years after a ban on cameras in criminal courts was enshrined in law, the first broadcast from an English crown court went out on Thursday and is likely to have left many viewers asking: “Why has it taken so long?”
Resistance in the past has often been motivated by fears that allowing in cameras could risk turning cases into the sort of media circus seen around high-profile US trials such as that of OJ Simpson or, albeit a civil case, the recent Johnny Depp v Amber Heard defamation proceedings.
Continue reading...Justice committee says little progress made on developing alternatives to custodial sentences as female prison population predicted to rise by a third
Ministers have made little progress developing alternatives to custodial sentences for women, MPs have concluded, amid official predictions that the female prison population may rise by a third in the next three years.
The Conservative-led justice select committee said “there is yet to be any clear evidence” that women are being diverted away from jail despite promises to develop other methods of punishment and rehabilitation.
Continue reading...Under new rules, panels will rarely receive psychologists’ and probation officers’ recommendations
Dominic Raab has been accused of a “catastrophic” decision that experts say profoundly undermines public safety by allowing prisoners to abscond and others to commit serious offences while on parole.
In a strongly worded letter to the justice secretary, three unions castigate a “momentous and dangerous” move by Raab to ban psychologists, prison staff and probation officers from informing the Parole Board whether they believe prisoners should be released.
Continue reading...Members of Criminal Bar Association take fight for a 25% rise in legal aid fees to parliament
Barristers are heading to parliament as they begin their first whole week of strike action over levels of legal aid funding they say are bringing the criminal justice system to its knees.
Members of the Criminal Bar Association, which represents advocates in England and Wales, began action with a two-day strike at the end of last month and have been escalating it by an extra day every week.
Continue reading...Sevenfold rise in those waiting at least a year for cases to be heard as lawyers quit over cuts in legal aid
More than 5,800 victims of violent crime and sexual offences are stuck in one of the worst-ever backlogs in the crown courts, enduring delays of at least a year before their cases are heard, the Observer can reveal.
The number of cases facing these delays once a defendant has been charged has increased more than sevenfold in two years, according to an analysis of crown court figures in England and Wales.
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