Prisons & Probation – Latest News:
- Sun, 16 Nov 2025 06:00:25 +0000: ‘There is a gap where Alex should be’: the young woman who lost her life in a neglectful prison system - Prisons and probation | The Guardian
An inquest has found a Cheshire prison guilty of neglect after Alex Davies, 25, was found dead inside a segregation cell after a lifetime of mental health struggles
“There is a gap or a space where Alex should be,” Stacie Davies said. “Wherever I am, she’s not there.”
At just 25 years old, her daughter, Alex Davies, was found dead in her segregation cell at Styal prison in Cheshire on Christmas Eve last year.
Continue reading... - Sat, 15 Nov 2025 12:00:08 +0000: She was a prison officer. He was a convicted rapist. How did she fall for him? - Prisons and probation | The Guardian
Cherrie-Ann Austin-Saddington was working in a men’s prison when she began a relationship with an inmate that would turn her, too, into a criminal. How do some of the most dangerous men in Britain get what they want – even behind bars?
There was a moment in the summer of 2022 when 26-year-old Cherrie-Ann Austin-Saddington, a female prison officer in a men’s jail, had to make a choice. She was on her wing at HMP The Verne in Dorset, in the day room where inmates go to read books and newspapers, when a prisoner called Bradley Trengrove handed her a magazine. Concealed within its pages was a slip of paper with a number written on it – the number of his secret, illicit mobile phone. Under the watchful eye of the prison’s security cameras, Austin-Saddington had to decide what to do next.
“I was thinking, do I report it? Do I not report it?” she says. “I wasn’t thinking, I’ll text him – that wasn’t in my head.” But she did not throw the piece of paper away. She kept it, and in the end decided not to report anything.
Continue reading... - Wed, 12 Nov 2025 18:08:08 +0000: Release errors show the sorry state that prisons are in | Letters - Prisons and probation | The Guardian
John Lovelock and James Stoddart on the woeful state of prisons, caused by funding cuts and lack of support for both inmates and staff
I have considerable sympathy with David Lammy’s current predicament (Lammy says he was right not to discuss mistakenly freed prisoner at PMQs, 6 November). Our entire justice system was woefully neglected throughout 14 years of Conservative tenure. But this neglect was particularly calamitous in relation to our prisons. Rectifying the obscenity that currently passes for our prison system will require enormous government investment of public money at a time when public finances are stretched and sympathy for our prison population is low: there are precious few votes in a manifesto promise to improve the lot of prisoners.
However, I feel we must look at this disgraceful situation from the standpoint of the poor prison officers who are tasked with working in these dreadful institutions. If conditions in our largely outdated prisons are bad for the inmates, just imagine what it is like having to work in them. It must be incredibly difficult to recruit new staff to the Prison Service and nigh on impossible to retain them, leaving the service dependent on young, inexperienced, demotivated staff with poor morale who are regularly exposed to high levels of verbal and physical abuse.
Continue reading... - Wed, 12 Nov 2025 16:33:06 +0000: Abuse by UK’s ‘most prolific sex offender’ was ignored at Medomsley detention centre, report finds - Prisons and probation | The Guardian
Neville Husband committed hundreds of offences while working at facility in County Durham from 1969 to 1985
A man who worked as a prison officer and caterer in a youth detention centre was able to rape and torture boys for three decades while the abuse was “ignored and dismissed”, according to a report labelling him as possibly Britain’s worst ever sex offender.
Neville Husband carried out at least 388 sexual offences against young men and boys between 1969 and 1985 while working at Medomsley detention centre in County Durham, but is believed have committed hundreds more crimes, which would take the total past the 450 committed by Jimmy Savile.
Continue reading... - Wed, 12 Nov 2025 06:00:17 +0000: There’s a missing link in British public life – and it underpins crises from the BBC to our prisons | Rafael Behr - Prisons and probation | The Guardian
A declining sense of collective identity is corroding trust in our institutions and undermining democratic politics
Imagine you are given a pile of tokens, representing real money, and invited to donate to a common pot. There are other players but you can’t interact with them. The sum of collective contributions will be trebled, then shared equally among all players. What do you do?
If everyone submits all their money, all get richer. But if everyone except you pays in, you can enjoy the collective payout while retaining your original stash. The flaw in the selfish strategy is that other people might have the same idea. If no one pays in, there is no bounty to share.
Rafael Behr is a Guardian columnist
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