The House of Commons Justice Committee is currently conducting an enquiry into our ageing prison population, so we thought it was timely to take a closer look at how our prison population has changed over recent years. The latest figures are quite startling: One in six (17%) of the prison… Work with offenders investigates our ageing prison population...
The announcement by the Ministry of Justice that it is investing in services for women offenders was some very welcome news during a particularly bleak time. The issue of women’s offending is possibly unique in the criminal justice system. Unique because, unlike so many other justice issues where “liberals” and… Work with offenders heralds long awaited investment in services for women offenders...
Last week the Ministry of Justice published its quarterly offender management statistics; the latest quarter in focus was October to December 2019 which means that we have a full data set for last year. Careful reading revealed a number of interesting trends which we hope readers will find of interest.… Work with offenders takes a deep dive into the latest offender management statistics...
This is the second in our occasional series on key independent organisations operating within the criminal justice sector. The Howard League is named after John Howard, the founder of the penal reform movement. Between 1775 and 1790 John Howard made seven journeys across Europe in search of a humane prison… Work with Offenders profiles the UK’s oldest penal reform organisation....
A new report from the Institute for Government says that the UK criminal justice system is facing unprecedented court case backlogs and record prisoner numbers. These joint pressures will be the result of delays to court hearings caused by the coronavirus pandemic, and the government’s plan to recruit an extra… Work with Offenders digs into the detail of an important new report on the future for the justice system...
As readers will know, some weeks ago the government announced that it would be releasing prisoners early in order to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on prisoners and staff living in our overcrowded prisons and “to protect the NHS and save lives”. The MoJ announced that early release would be… Work with Offenders looks at the now public criteria for the early release scheme designed to contain the spread of coronavirus in our prisons....
This year’s edition of Global Prison Trends, published by Penal Reform International (PRI), has been released at a crucial time as prisons worldwide are being pushed to breaking point by the COVID-19 pandemic. Global Prison Trends 2020 documents the chronic issues that have led to this human rights and public… Work with Offenders digs into this year’s edition of Penal Reform International’s flagship publication...
The Griffins Society was set up in 1965 to provide hostel accommodation for women leaving Holloway prison. The organisation went on to set up the first female-only bail and probation hostel, Kelley House, which is still open today. Over a period of 30 years the society developed five hostels for… Work with Offenders starts a new series on key independent organisations operating within the criminal justice sector, starting with the Griffins Society....
There has been a lot of discussion about the impact of COVID-19 on our penal system, with the consensus that our overcrowded, outdated prisons are virtual Petri dishes likely to guarantee the spread of the virus across the whole estate, affecting residents and staff alike. We know that the MoJ… Work with Offenders digs into the detail...
It is hard to overstate the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on people in prison. Most prisoners are being locked up for more than 20 hours per day. The most constructive parts of the prison regime – education, training, reducing reoffending programmes and gym – have been almost totally suspended.… Work with offenders looks at how prison TV and radio are informing and supporting prisoners throughout the COVID-19 pandemic...