Prisons & Probation – Latest News:
- Thu, 16 Apr 2026 17:57:10 +0000: The Guardian view on drugs in prisons: the chief inspector has sounded the alarm – ministers must act | Editorial - Prisons and probation | The Guardian
The impunity with which organised crime groups operate in jails is scandalous. Blocking drones should be just the start
To most of the public, the widespread availability of illegal drugs in prisons must be hard to comprehend. A Ministry of Justice that cannot prevent law-breaking within its own institutions is clearly failing to a disastrous extent. As well as undermining rehabilitation by perpetuating criminality, addiction and debt, drug dealing in prisons undermines the whole system’s credibility and purpose.
Yet this is the situation in multiple English and Welsh jails, as set out by chief inspector Charlie Taylor. His last annual report highlighted the fact that 39% of prisoners surveyed in 2024/25 said it was easy to obtain drugs, while 19% of female prisoners had developed drug problems in jail. The rate of positive results in random drug tests regularly topped 30%.
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Continue reading... - Wed, 15 Apr 2026 09:23:58 +0000: Prison officers given more training to avoid being manipulated into illicit relationships with inmates - Prisons and probation | The Guardian
Exclusive: Enable programme in England and Wales follows cases where staff have become embroiled sexually or financially with criminals
A new programme of instruction and support will be given to trainee prison officers to help them avoid being manipulated into illicit relationships by experienced criminals.
The Prison Service in England and Wales is developing the scheme, which will offer mentors and advice to trainee officers on how to handle complex relationships with prisoners.
Continue reading... - 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.
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