Prisons & Probation – Latest News:
- Wed, 10 Dec 2025 18:02:24 +0000: Jailed Welsh women and their children face an additional trauma | Letters - Prisons and probation | The Guardian
Mary Wrenn points out that women given custodial sentences in Wales are sent to prisons in England, which has a negative impact on families
Simon Hattenstone, quoting Ministry of Justice figures, says “the self-harm rate in women’s prisons in England and Wales was at a record high” (Report, 3 December). It is worth remembering that Wales does not have a women’s prison. Women given custodial sentences in Wales are sent to prisons in England (Cheshire or Gloucestershire, for example). This clearly has a negative impact on families, especially children.
The Welsh government’s preventive and trauma-informed approach favours the creation of residential women’s centres as a community-based alternative to short prison sentences. A pioneering project in Swansea, in development with the Ministry of Justice, is shockingly delayed. It can’t come soon enough for the hundreds of Welsh women (the majority of whom are themselves victims of domestic abuse or trauma) currently serving sentences several hours away from their families.
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Mary Wrenn
Llandenny, Monmouthshire - Fri, 05 Dec 2025 05:00:40 +0000: When I met Craig he was 13 and homeless. I still thought his life might turn around. I was tragically wrong – podcast - Prisons and probation | The Guardian
I knew he was running away from something. It wasn’t until many years later that I discovered the truth
Written and read by Pamela Gordon
Continue reading... - Thu, 04 Dec 2025 07:00:07 +0000: Probation officers in England and Wales to be given self-defence training after stabbings - Prisons and probation | The Guardian
Exclusive: Pilot schemes for bodycams, knife arches and metal detectors in probation offices also approved after attacks in Oxford and Preston
Probation officers will be given self-defence training, bleed kits and body-worn cameras for the first time under plans before ministers in the wake of two stabbings, the Guardian has learned.
Knife arches and handheld metal-detecting wands, which can be used to search people for weapons, have been approved for pilot schemes in selected offices.
Continue reading... - Thu, 04 Dec 2025 00:01:58 +0000: Sevenfold increase in serious incidents at UK immigration detention centre, report finds - Prisons and probation | The Guardian
Incidents rose from four in 2023 to 28 in 2024 as 22 Serco officers also investigated for serious misconduct at Gatwick centre
There has been a sevenfold increase in serious incidents at an immigration detention centre near Gatwick airport, a watchdog report has revealed.
There were 28 serious incidents at Gatwick immigration removal centre in 2024 compared with four recorded in 2023, the report from the independent monitoring board said. These included large protests and men jumping on to anti-suicide netting. On 12 occasions the National Tactical Response Group, a specialist unit to deal with protests and other serious problems, was called in to quell disorder.
Continue reading... - Wed, 03 Dec 2025 17:14:57 +0000: Women’s prisons report finds 97 deaths in decade as self-harm hits record high - Prisons and probation | The Guardian
Charity director warns ‘more deaths will follow’ unless government changes tack and closes women’s prisons
Over the past decade 97 women have died in prisons in England and incidents of self-harm among female prisoners have reached the highest level on record, a report has found.
Inquest, the charity that produced the report, collated Ministry of Justice (MoJ) figures since 2015 to arrive at a total number of deaths. It said the numbers were evidence for its case that all women’s prisons should be closed.
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