Prisons & Probation – Latest News:
- Mon, 13 Apr 2026 23:01:53 +0000: ‘Little progress’ in stopping drug drones at HMP Manchester, watchdog says - Prisons and probation | The Guardian
Chief inspector for England and Wales says prison remains in ‘precarious state’ more than year after urgent notification
The Prison Service has made “very little progress” in enforcing a formal demand to stop drones from delivering drugs into one of its worst performing jails, a watchdog has concluded.
Charlie Taylor, the chief inspector of prisons for England and Wales, said HMP Manchester remained in a “precarious state” after a failure to fix broken windows and install security to stop contraband being delivered to gangs.
Continue reading... - Wed, 08 Apr 2026 05:00:16 +0000: Treat jailed drug dealers like radical extremists, says prisons watchdog - Prisons and probation | The Guardian
Charlie Taylor, inspector of prisons for England and Wales, says dealers should be isolated and ‘assertively managed’
Jailed criminals who are flooding prisons with drugs should be isolated like radical extremists and “assertively managed”, the England and Wales prisons watchdog has said.
Charlie Taylor, HM inspector of prisons, said major dealers were living “consequence-free” in jail when they should be separated from the majority of inmates, subjected to regular searches for phones, and punished and rewarded according to their behaviour.
Continue reading... - Mon, 30 Mar 2026 16:58:54 +0000: Expansion of HMP Parc in Wales should be paused, MPs say - Prisons and probation | The Guardian
Welsh affairs committee says Bridgend jail is ‘not the right place’ to add inmates after deaths, violence and staff shortages
Plans to expand one of the most troubled prisons in England and Wales should be paused until serious failures surrounding staff and inmate safety are addressed, MPs have said.
Seventeen men died at HMP Parc in Bridgend in 2024 – the highest number recorded at any prison in England and Wales that year – amid drug use, self-harm, violence and understaffing issues. Another three men died there in the first nine months of 2025.
Continue reading... - Mon, 30 Mar 2026 15:39:58 +0000: Prison officers are key to reforming the criminal justice system | Letter - Prisons and probation | The Guardian
It is frontline staff who promote change in everyday interactions and set positive goals to help reduce reoffending, says Natasha Porter
The role played by prison officers is so often overlooked and misunderstood, and your editorial (22 March) is right to highlight staff when addressing some of the issues facing prisons. Those on the frontline are uniquely placed to drive change across the system, and good prison officers can radically improve outcomes for those in their care. To build a prison system that promotes rehabilitation, staff must be at the heart of these efforts and we need to be recruiting, training and developing outstanding frontline leaders.
The challenges in prisons are well documented and reoffending rates remain stubbornly high, costing the taxpayer billions every year. With so many prisoners spending more than 22 hours in their cells every day, the officers on the landings are the most influential members of staff in a prison. Only they can reach all prisoners, even those who refuse to engage with the rest of the system. The success of efforts to reform the system – including many of those introduced by the new Sentencing Act – requires transformative leaders on the frontline.
Continue reading... - Thu, 26 Mar 2026 20:37:18 +0000: Bobby Cummines obituary - Prisons and probation | The Guardian
Former violent criminal who went on to become a charismatic campaigner for the rehabilitation of offenders
While his route to Buckingham Palace via Parkhurst prison proved to be circuitous, Bobby Cummines, who has died aged 74, undertook the journey with remarkable relish.
He progressed from a north London childhood of petty crime to a career of armed robbery and ever-lengthening jail sentences. As he was shuffled around the prison estate he added considerably to his notoriety by taking the governor of Albany prison hostage, and in Parkhurst prison negotiating a truce between incarcerated members of the Kray and Richardson gangs. It was during this period that he carried a blade from a pair of garden shears up his sleeve: “I never saw a lot of rehabilitation going on.”
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