Prisons & Probation – Latest News:
- Thu, 31 Jul 2025 13:49:41 +0000: Starmer says UK ‘steadfast’ in wanting Gaza hostages released following criticism from woman held captive – UK politics live - Prisons and probation | The Guardian
PM says that alongside securing the release of hostages ‘we do need to do everything we can to alleviate the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza’
Nine out of 10 nurses have rejected their 3.6% pay award for this year and warned that they could strike later this year unless their salaries are improved, Denis Campbell reports.
The Ministry of Justice has also published performance figures for prisons in England and Wales for 2024/25. They show that around half of them are rated as having performance either concern or serious concern.
Continue reading... - Thu, 31 Jul 2025 12:28:48 +0000: Attacks on prison officers and inmate deaths at record levels in England and Wales - Prisons and probation | The Guardian
MoJ figures show 10,568 assaults on staff in the last year, while number of people dying in jail rose by almost a third
Attacks on prison officers and the number of inmate deaths in England and Wales have soared to record levels, according to official figures.
Ministry of Justice statistics released on Thursday show there were 10,568 assaults on staff in jails in the 12 months to March 2025 – up 7% on the previous year.
Continue reading... - Mon, 28 Jul 2025 04:00:40 +0000: UK jail escape trial reignites debate over indefinite sentences - Prisons and probation | The Guardian
Joe Outlaw, who climbed on to a prison roof, is using the mental toll of indeterminate detention as a legal defence
The trial of an alleged escapee who spent hours on the roof of a high-security prison in his underpants is set to be the first time the stress caused by indeterminate sentences can be used as a legal defence.
Joe Outlaw is due to stand trial on Monday for climbing on to the roof of HMP Frankland in Durham in June 2023 in protest at the imprisonment for public protection (IPP) sentence he and others are serving.
Continue reading... - Mon, 21 Jul 2025 15:28:51 +0000: Labour to review state pension age as Kendall says triple lock commitment ‘out of scope’ of commission - as it happened - Prisons and probation | The Guardian
Work and pensions secretary announces next statutory government review into retirement age
Tony Diver, the Telegraph’s associate political editor, is among the journalists at Nigel Farage’s conference. He has shared Reform’s policy costing document. The party estimates that the total cost of halving crime would be £17.4bn over a five-year parliament, with an annual cost of £3.48bn.
Nigel Farage has been speaking at a press conference in London about what he has framed as “lawless Britain”. Here are some of the highlights of the conference, which you can watch at the top of the blog. The Reform leader did not cite specific evidence or data to back up many of his claims:
He claims successive home secretaries have based claims that crimes in England and Wales are falling on “completely false data”. He says if you look at police recorded crimes there are “significant” rises in crime, particularly those against the person.
Farage says we are facing “nothing short of societal collapse” in many parts of the country, with “people scared to go out to the shops” and to “let their kids out”.
He says criminals and law-abiding citizens respect police less than they used to.
He says low level offences – like phone snatching and shop lifting – are rife in London and not being prosecuted.
Most people don’t even bother calling the police to report a crime because they know officers are unlikely to take any action, Farage said.
Farage said that “nobody in London understands how close we are to civil disobedience” in Britain.
He said that offenders convicted of more than three serious crimes should be “on a course towards life imprisonment”.
Reform would put more knife arches in train stations and other transport hubs to clamp down on crime, Farage suggested.
He said that every shoplifting offence would be prosecuted and every mobile phone theft investigated if Reform got into government at the next election.
Farage indicated that the party would force Reform UK councils to take new prisons in their areas as part of the party’s plans to tackle crime.
Continue reading... - Mon, 21 Jul 2025 10:32:06 +0000: ‘Compassion and care are being stripped away’: a Just Stop Oil activist on her time in prison - Prisons and probation | The Guardian
Louise Lancaster reflects on the unique challenges faced by neurodivergent inmates, raising concerns for those left behind
Louise Lancaster, 59, was one of a group of Just Stop Oil activists given the longest-ever UK sentences for peaceful protest for planning disruption on the M25 in November 2022. This year, she wrote a diary for the Guardian, detailing her first six months behind bars. Here, written before her release on 8 April and after her sentence was reduced on appeal, she reflects on her final months of incarceration.
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