Prisons & Probation – Latest News:
- Wed, 22 Jan 2025 05:00:10 +0000: Organised crime unit expanded in prisons in England and Wales to fight escalating gang activity - Prisons and probation | The Guardian
Amid increasing drone use and drug-related violence, the prisons minister, James Timpson, is ‘beefing up’ measures
The Prison Service is “beefing up” a cadre of officers dedicated to smashing gangs in prisons in the face of escalating drone use and drug-related violence, the prisons minister has said.
James Timpson said the work of the department’s serious organised crime unit is being expanded, and expressed concern that a minority of prison officers have been corrupted by “very manipulative people”.
Continue reading... - Tue, 21 Jan 2025 17:55:40 +0000: Quirky online groups to lift the spirits in January | Brief letters - Prisons and probation | The Guardian
An unusual survival guide | Unfortunate names | The Saint Peter heresy | Oblong memories | Imprisoned women
Inspiring ideas from Emma Beddington (Somehow, it is still January. Here are my nine wellness-free survival tips, 20 January), but has she considered dipping a toe into one of the many online groups? How about Make Your Own Breastmilk Jewellery, the Bathtubs in Fields Appreciation Group or, perhaps closer to home, York Drunken Knitwits?
Joanna Rimmer
Newcastle upon Tyne• As a prospective patient in the 1970s for wisdom teeth extraction, I was very distressed to realise that my dental surgeon was called Mr Coffin. I wondered at the time why he had not thought to change his name (Letters, 10 January), but I did go ahead with the operation.
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Alyson Elliman
Carshalton Beeches, London - Tue, 21 Jan 2025 05:00:07 +0000: Prisons minister aims to close one women’s jail in England and Wales - Prisons and probation | The Guardian
Exclusive: Timpson says government plans to reverse rise in female inmates and use alternative forms of punishment
A women’s jail in England or Wales should be closed by diverting offenders to alternative forms of punishment and rehabilitation, the prisons minister, James Timpson has said.
In an interview with the Guardian, the former head of the shoe repair chain said the government planned to reverse the rise in the number of women being sent to jail, around half of whom are mothers.
Continue reading... - Sun, 19 Jan 2025 06:00:48 +0000: ‘Creative use of punishment’: Covid-style lockdowns proposed for criminals in England and Wales - Prisons and probation | The Guardian
Bar Council calls for pandemic restrictions to help reintegrate non-violent offenders into society and ease pressure on overcrowded jails
Conditions similar to Covid lockdowns should be imposed on criminals as an alternative to overflowing prisons, barristers have told the government.
In an official submission to an ongoing sentencing review led by former Conservative justice secretary David Gauke, the Bar Council called for consideration of more “creative use of punishment”. Ideas put forward by the body, which represents barristers in England and Wales, include enhanced home detention measures for non-violent offenders and “part-time prisons” that would help inmates reintegrate into society.
Continue reading... - Sat, 18 Jan 2025 10:00:23 +0000: Nobody could help me with my psychosis. Then I was sent to jail for holding up a shop with a toy gun - Prisons and probation | The Guardian
I didn’t remember committing my crime but I knew I had fallen through the cracks of the system. Could prison really be my salvation?
Sixteen months ago, I somehow found myself standing bewildered in the dock of a magistrates court, at my own bail hearing for attempted armed robbery, wondering if I was really there or not. I had inexplicably gone into a shop with a toy gun at 7.30am, pointed it at the cashier and screamed at him for money while in a psychotic, delusional state. In my mind, I hadn’t committed a crime at all; I was merely acting out a scene from a film. Legally I had committed a Schedule 15 offence – a list that includes kidnapping, sex offences, manslaughter and soliciting murder, grave crimes that can result in a maximum of 14 years’ custody. Bail wasn’t even considered, as the magistrate believed I underestimated the seriousness of my crime, didn’t think I’d surrender to my bail conditions and saw me as a flight risk. I don’t know if he banged a gavel or not – I like to imagine he did – but he told me I’d be held on remand in prison awaiting trial at crown court. My solicitor told me in a vaguely panicked way that this was a “two-strike life offence”, meaning that if I commit a second offence of similar severity, I have to be given a maximum sentence. All the while I was half-there and half-not, observing it all happening, kind of bemused.
The magistrate made the right call, I see that now. I was manic, I would have done it again, I would have run, I would have died of misadventure (there was a time I was so manic I thought I could outrun trains, and if it hadn’t been Christmas Day when I made this discovery about myself, I would have died there and then on the tracks). I truly believe if the universe wanted to destroy me, then bail would have been granted that day. Me being placed on remand was an act of loving kindness from a power far greater than me: to remove me from society, to save me from myself, to get better for my two beautiful young sons back at home. I had been living mostly alone after my marriage broke down, and while the parenting situation between us is shared care, I had not been capable of this for two years. When I wasn’t committing major offences, I was under section in hospital, or trying to kick my constantly resurfacing addictions to alcohol and drugs in rehab. For two years, I spent more time in institutions than not, and it looked as if this year would be no different.
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