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SubscriptionsCategory: Prisons
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Boris Johnson’s Radon Gas Filled Prison Deal to Cost Taxpayers £100 Million
The full costs of the botched agreement to lease an unusable prison filled with poisonous gas from the Duchy of Cornwall, revealed for the first time
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From Jimmy Lai to Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe: Families of Brits Detained Abroad Demand New Strategy Over ‘Hostage Diplomacy’
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband Richard tells Byline Times that the UK’s approach is leaving vulnerable Britons ‘left behind’
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Prisons Overcrowding Crisis to Force Keir Starmer to Release Thousands More Prisoners Early
The crisis followed the last Conservative Government’s failure to fulfil its promise to build up to 20,000 more prisons places before leaving office
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‘Litany of Failures’ Exposed by Damning Report Revealing Huge Scale of Conservative Prisons Crisis Inherited by Keir Starmer
Just 5% of the additional prison places promised by Conservative ministers in 2016 have been delivered
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Ministry of Justice Accused of Hiding Scale of Racism in British Prisons
The Government is refusing to reveal how many complaints have been made by inmates and guards
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‘Prison Doesn’t Work – it Won’t for Those Jailed for the Riots Either’
Keir Starmer was applauded for appointing a prisons minister who believes only a ‘third of inmates should actually be in jail’. Where was this mantra when the PM declared rioters should feel ‘the full force of the law’?
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Prison Cells ‘Waiting’ for Far-Right Rioters Despite Major Overcrowding Problem at Most UK Jails
The Justice Minister has said the Government will ‘make sure’ that anyone jailed over the riots has a ‘prison place waiting for them’
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Ministry of Justice Downgrading of Sex Offender Rehabilitation Will Have ‘Catastrophic Effect’ on Public Safety, Union Warns
The salaries of specialist probation officers who manage sex offenders are being cut – and 77% say they plan to leave the job
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Court Case Backlog Worse Now than Before £477 Million Investment to Curb Delays, New Report Reveals
National Audit Office figures show MoJ way off target of reducing court case backlog by more than 14,000 cases and more than 6,000 are two years or more old
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The ‘Inhumane’ Jail Sentence Abolished More Than a Decade ago That’s Still Traumatising Inmates and Their Families
IPP sentences were abolished more than a decade ago – but despite legislative changes hundreds of inmates remain in jail indefinitely and many are taking their own lives in despair
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Taxpayer to Pay for Radon Crisis at Prison Owned by Duchy of Cornwall – Despite Government Giving It £1.5 Million a Year in Rent
HMP Dartmoor was set to close due to its underfunded and crumbling state before a Government U-turn in 2021
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The Next Big Injustice Scandal? Allegations of ‘Blood on Government’s Hands’ as Thousands of Prisoners Remain Locked Up Despite Serving Time
These are enough people still locked up who’ve served their sentences to fill four UK prisons, according to new figures
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Prince William is Radiation Prison Landlord – Parts of UK’s Oldest Jail Evacuated
Inmates at HMP Dartmoor are being moved to other prisons due to potentially dangerous levels of cancer-causing radon detected in some cells. The Duke of Cornwall is their landlord
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It’s Hard to See How ‘Prison Works’
Overcrowding, rising prison deaths, financial cutbacks, and no deliverable plan – the prison system in England and Wales is close to chaos
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Why the Sentencing Proposals in the King’s Speech May Put More People in Danger of Becoming the Victim of a Crime
Lawyer Gareth Roberts examines new proposals that may be robust, but are they good policy?
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From Prisoner to Publisher: Reformed Robber Unmasks Britain’s Broken Prison System
Stephen Jackley, a former prisoner turned author and campaigner, pulls back the curtain on the UK prison system in an exclusive interview with Byline Times, as he launches his new book ‘Just Time’.
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‘Rapists Could Be Let Free As Prisons are Full. The Conservatives Cannot Get Away With This’
The Government has talked tough on crime while creating the scandal of violent criminals now being let free, writes Josiah Mortimer
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‘Daniel Khalife Escaped Because Successive Governments have Starved Prisons of Staff and Money’
Poor conditions and a lack of resources won’t stop the Government blaming staff, writes one former prison officer
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REVEALED: One Hundred Million in Compensation Paid Out in UK Prisons
Prisoners can receive compensation if they are injured and the Prison Service is to blame or if their human rights are breached – Iain Overton reports
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Insulate Britain Activists Defiant After Being Locked Up for ‘Speaking Truth’ on Climate
“I’ve always known that it was the right thing to do, and paying this price is the right thing to do as well. It had to be done,” one ex-prisoner tells Josiah Mortimer Insulate Britain protesters locked up for defying a judge’s ban from speaking about climate change and fuel poverty have told Byline Times…
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‘Extremely Concerning’ Safety Issues in Women’s Prison
An unannounced inspection of a women’s prison raises new concerns about safety across the female estate. Sian Norris reports
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The Forgotten Scandal of Women’s Safety in Prisons
With intense scrutiny on the sending of transgender offenders to women’s prisons, Sian Norris reports on the much-ignored safety issue impacting incarcerated women – self harm
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REVEALED: Prisons are Another Public Service Facing Soaring Energy Bills
An investigation by Sian Norris for the Byline Intelligence Team finds prisons are facing rising energy costs, after nine years of austerity have wreaked havoc on the sector
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Lost in the Criminal Justice System: What is Happening to People with Learning Disabilities in Prison?
Guy Taylor investigates the lack of resources devoted to identifying those with learning disabilities and autism in the process of justice
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Born in the USA: The Americanisation of Reactionary Politics in the UK
From dark money think tanks to health privatisation, the influence of the American right on British politics is greater than we think, says Rachel Morris
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The Families of People Killed by Police Are Taking Matters Into Their Own Hands
‘Almost none of us have got justice. The first was Sarah Everard’, said Marcia Rigg, who is part of a new campaign to secure justice for people killed in police custody
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Experts Raise Alarm Over Prison Overcrowding as Government Pursues Draconian Crime Bill
Sascha Lavin explores the ticking time-bomb at the heart of the criminal justice system
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Dominic Raab’s ‘Operation Red Meat’ Justice Plans Will Backfire
Increasing the powers of magistrates will only put more pressure on the already strained crown court, says Gareth Roberts
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‘A Life-Threatening Situation’: How Prison Fails Mothers and Children
Three years after a parliamentary committee recommended the Ministry of Justice records how many mothers are in prison, the National Audit Office criticises lack of progress on supporting female offenders, including lack of data collection on women with dependant children
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Nearly Two-Thirds of Prison Staff Guilty of Sexual Harassment Kept their Jobs
After exposing the number of police officers found guilty of sexual misconduct who kept their jobs, Sascha Lavin investigates sexual harassment in the prison system for the Byline Intelligence Team
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As Private Providers Take Over, Mental Health Detentions Increase by a Third in Five Years
Byline Times reveals a startling rise in the number of people detained under the Mental Health Act, just as the number of mental health beds owned by private healthcare providers increases
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Raab Praises the ‘Second Chance Society’ While Ignoring Government Cuts to Youth Services
The Justice Secretary used his Conservative Party Conference speech to praise youth services giving troubled young people a second chance, while a decade of austerity left those same young people with few places to turn
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Prisoners Released on Temporary Licence Plummet
The number of prisoners able to access temporary release to go to work – or take a job in prison – has dramatically decreased during the pandemic, and women are disproportionately impacted
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New Research on Minority Women’s Experience of Prison Contradicts Claim ‘Systemic Racism is Not an Issue for the UK’
A new report reveals how racially minoritised women endure longer sentences and a longer-term impact of imprisonment than their white peers, reports Sian Norris
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Child Offenders Spending 23 Hours a Day Locked in their Cells During Coronavirus Crisis
David Hencke reports on worrying developments in a longstanding issue: how the criminal justice system treats children and young people in offenders’ institutions
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Extracts from a COVID Prison Diary
Since 1974, Peter Wayne has spent more than 35 years in jail. Two months ago, he was released from a London prison after serving a three-year sentence. During this period, he kept a journal, from which the following extracts are taken
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Keeping Hope Alive is Vital for Prisoners Facing a ‘Double Lockdown’ During COVID-19
With a brutal report into conditions published by the Chief Inspector of Prisons this week, the CEO of charity Spark Inside – which offers coaching in prisons – considers how Coronavirus restrictions in our jails can be navigated
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Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Prisons a Place of ‘Staggering’ Government Failure
Another damning parliamentary report reveals the extent to which prisons in England and Wales are not delivering for society
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The Hidden Scandal of COVID-19 in Our Prisons
Dr John Ashton, explores the Government’s failure to protect those living and working in environments which are hotbeds for the Coronavirus
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The Coronavirus Crisis: The Forgotten Consequences of those in a ‘Double-Lockdown’
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has rightly focused on hospitals and care homes – but hidden hotspots of the virus such as prisons should not be forgotten as we tackle the outbreak.
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The Coronavirus Crisis: Who is the Government Trying to Fool – Us or Itself?
Dr John Ashton, a former director of public health, explores how the Government has communicated with the public during the COVID-19 outbreak and why the true scale of the crisis is being hidden.
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The Coronavirus Crisis: Will Our COVID-19 Lockdown Make Us think More About Why We Imprison So Many People?
Duncan Campbell discusses how the words ‘lockdown’ and ‘stir-crazy” were an all too familiar reality for a section of our society long before the Coronavirus pandemic appeared.
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The Coronavirus Crisis: What Should Happen Next in Hospitals, Homes, Prisons and the Community?
Dr John Ashton explains how the threat posed by the Coronavirus will be amplified in closed settings and communities.
