Only the Prime Minister truly knows why he’s called the general election when everything seems stacked against the Tories. Perhaps Sunak calculated that as bad as things are now, they’ll only get worse. If so, last week’s Prime Minister’s Questions must have affected his decision. Keir Starmer had pressed Sunak on the End of Custody […]
Just six months ago, in October 2023, Alex Chalk, Secretary of State for Justice, announced a range of reforms to sentencing alongside an early release scheme, designed to stop our prisons from running out of space. At the time many commentators, myself included, said that these changes wouldn’t solve the problem, and would only buy […]
Last week’s report on HMP Bedford by HM Inspector of Prisons made grim reading, even for those of us who have experienced the system from the inside. The report describes a total failure of basic hygiene: half the prisoners did not receive toiletries on their first night, and 70% weren’t able to shower. Many were locked in […]
There exists a group of perhaps 300,000 British children who are three times more likely than their peers to develop mental health problems. These same children are more likely to miss school, get involved in antisocial behaviour, violence and even crime. They should be a priority for any government but no government department is responsible […]
A former soldier charged with terrorism and espionage escapes from prison by strapping himself under a delivery lorry and being driven to freedom. It might sound shocking, far-fetched or like something from an action film. However, having been imprisoned at HMP Wandsworth in 2020 I’m not shocked at all. The most fundamental job of a […]
Before being sentenced to 45 months in prison for fraud, I knew that British prisons were bad. I expected endemic violence, drugs and filth. What I found inside still horrified me. Yes, our prisons are dirty, dangerous and awash with drugs. What’s much worse though is that they make prisoners more likely to reoffend, costing […]
