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has been a lot of discussion about the impact of COVID-19 on our penal system, with the consensus that our overcrowded, outdated prisons are virtual Petri dishes likely to guarantee the spread of the virus across the whole estate, affecting residents and staff alike.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...
The Howard League for Penal Reform is the oldest penal reform charity in the UK; established in 1866 and is named after John Howard, one of the first prison reformers. Since 2016 the charity has been running a very successful programme of work to end the criminalisation of children in… Work with Offenders looks at the latest instalment of the Howard League’s campaign to end the criminalisation of children in residential care...
The main subject of conversation in the criminal justice community over the last couple of weeks has been if and when the Government would decide to release prisoners early in order to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. There are a large number of reasons why such a move… Work with Offenders looks at the detail of the Ministry of Justice's plans...
While both the prison and probation inspectorates have suspended their programmes of inspections due to the coronavirus pandemic, both organisations had already completed the fieldwork on a number of projects and are continuing to publish these reports. Yesterday, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation published an inspection report into the work… Work with Offenders examines the latest Probation Inspectorate report...
I am sure that many readers of this site have been thinking about those living and working in prisons more frequently than usual over the last few weeks. One organisation dedicated to the protection of prisoners is the UK National Preventive Mechanism (NPM). Last week the NPM published both its… Work with Offenders explains the work of the UK National Preventive Mechanism...