Prisons & Probation – Latest News:
- Thu, 20 Nov 2025 11:47:18 +0000: Why does MoJ want to curtail jury trials in England and Wales? - Prisons and probation | The Guardian
Right to trial by jury seen as bedrock of justice system but Sir Brian Leveson says court backlogs could lead to ‘total system collapse’
The courts minister, Sarah Sackman, has said the government plans to press ahead with radical proposals by Sir Brian Leveson to take thousands of trials in England and Wales away from the jury system to be heard instead by judges and magistrates. What is the reason for these changes, how would they work and why are they controversial?
Continue reading... - Thu, 20 Nov 2025 05:00:14 +0000: ‘Possibly the most prolific sex offender in British history’: the inside story of the Medomsley scandal - Prisons and probation | The Guardian
At a youth detention centre in north-east England, the paedophile Neville Husband raped and assaulted countless boys. Why was his reign of terror allowed to go on – and why hasn’t there been a public inquiry?
When I met Kevin Young in 2012 he was in his early 50s, handsome, charismatic, smart – and utterly broken. The moment he started talking about Medomsley detention centre he was in tears.
Young was born in Newcastle, in 1959. At two, he was taken into care, and his parents were convicted of wilful neglect. At eight, at a school in Devon, he was sexually abused by the gardener. At 14, at St Camillus, a Catholic residential school in Yorkshire, he was sexually assaulted by the headteacher, James Bernard Littlewood. But none of this compared with his experience at Medomsley, a youth detention centre in north-east England.
Continue reading... - Wed, 19 Nov 2025 13:58:30 +0000: Mahmood and Lammy breached human rights law over segregation of prisoner, judge finds - Prisons and probation | The Guardian
Treatment of terrorist with known mental health needs said to have contravened prohibition on inhuman or degrading treatment
Shabana Mahmood and David Lammy have been found to have breached a prohibition on inhuman or degrading treatment with respect to a prisoner who spent months segregated from other inmates, in what is believed to be a legal first.
Sahayb Abu was confined to his cell at HMP Woodhill in Milton Keynes, for 22 hours a day and prevented from associating with other prisoners for more than four months after Hashem Abedi, the brother of the Manchester Arena bomber, allegedly attacked prison officers at HMP Frankland.
Continue reading... - Tue, 18 Nov 2025 12:06:13 +0000: Sally Rooney says UK prisoners linked to Palestine Action face ‘shocking mistreatment’ - Prisons and probation | The Guardian
Exclusive: author urges ministers to engage with those on hunger strike, who want better conditions, bail and lifting of ban
Sally Rooney has pleaded with the UK government to address the “shocking mistreatment” of Palestine Action-affiliated prisoners who are on hunger strike, saying she fears for their welfare.
Six prisoners awaiting trial are refusing food, including two who have been on hunger strike for more than two weeks and are already said to have lost considerable weight and be struggling physically. Their demands include improved jail conditions, release on bail and lifting the ban on Palestine Action.
Continue reading... - 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.
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