United Kingdom: England & Wales
Seen in the press
Read our selection of press reports about this country.
UK: concern over segregated transgender women prisoners
The segregation of a jail’s transgender women prisoners for “long periods” has been noted as a concern by a watchdog. The Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) also had “serious concerns” about the lack of rehabilitation courses, and of women facing homelessness on release from HMP Eastwood Park. It p…Source — BBC
UK: Coronavirus (COVID-19) prison preparedness
Lucy Frazer said: “The Government is doing everything it can to combat the COVID-19 outbreak, based on the very latest scientific and medical advice. This includes in our prisons, where we are working closely with Public Health England, the NHS and the Department of Health and Social Care to manage…Source — GOV.UK
UK: MoJ challenged to release details of child restraint in prisons
A children’s rights charity is challenging the refusal of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) to release information showing the reasons why children in prison have suffered pain-inducing restraint, the Guardian has learned.Source — The Guardian
UK: 'our prison deradicalisation programmes aren't working'
The British prison system currently deals with high-security terrorism convicts by sending them to dispersal prisons. These prisoners are distributed around six maximum security dispersal jails and are regularly moved from one to another. This is done to prevent them from establishing close relatio…Source — PoliticsHome
UK: women released from prison nearly three times less likely to be in employment on release than men
A new briefing, Working It Out, published today by the Prison Reform Trust and Working Chance, reveals that fewer than one in 20 women (4%) were in employment six weeks after release from prison, compared with over one in 10 men (11%).Source — Prison Reform Trust
UK: psychoactive drugs linked to 95% of jail's ambulance callouts
Paramedics were called 200 times in six months to a prison in West Yorkshire to deal with medical incidents linked to drugs like spice, an inspection has revealed.Source — The Guardian
UK: Oakhill STC sees 27 staff investigated over abuse and neglect in last three years
Police have investigated 27 members of staff at a single secure training centre (STC) in relation to allegations of abuse or neglect of young people held there in the past three years, it has emerged.Source — Children and young people now
UK: pregnant in prison: 'I could feel the blood but didn’t put the light on to see'
Polly cried for help when she began bleeding heavily in her cell, but no one answeredSource — The Guardian
UK: pregnancy and childbirth in prison: what do we know?
Following the recent death of a baby born in prison, Miranda Davies presents new findings on the plight of pregnant prisoners – a group whose health needs are not currently being met.Source — NuffieldTrust
UK: prison violence cut after cons given 99p earplugs for a good night's sleep
Lags are calmer after a silent night’s sleep, thanks to earplugs which block out snoring, loud TVs and other noises at Buckley Hall prison in Rochdale, LancsSource — Mirror
UK: security firm to monitor prisoner vulnerability at Kilmarnock Prison in bid to prevent suicide and self harm
Changes in behaviour are highlighted to prison officers – allowing them to intervene before a prisoner self-harms or attempts suicide.Source — Daily Record
UK: HMP Cardiff 'bucks trend' on rising violence
Cardiff prison disproves clichés that inner-city Victorian jails are “places of squalor, violence and despair”, the chief inspector of prisons has said.Source — BBC
UK: mental health act: calls to end "horrific" detention of young people with autism
“It has been left to the media and desperate, anguished parents to expose the brutal reality of our system of detention of people with learning disabilities or autism.”Source — Huffigton Post
UK: ageing prison population "sees officers working as carers"
The ageing jail population has left prison officers providing care for a growing number of older inmates “dying in front of them”, officers have said.Source — BBC
UK: high-security prison opens up to visits from autistic children
Maghaberry near Belfast houses republican and loyalist paramilitaries plus life sentence murderers behind its razor-wire fences and high walls.Source — Belfast Telegraph
UK: prison officers told to knock on cell doors to make youth detention "child friendly"
Prison officers have been told to knock before entering the cells of young inmates in order to make youth detention centres “more child friendly”.Source — DailyMail
UK: self-inflicted deaths rise in prisons in England and Wales
Watchdog also finds drug use continues to plague jails despite agreed action plans.Source — The Guardian
UK: baby dies in prison after inmate "gives birth alone in cell"
Police are investigating the death of a baby in Britain’s largest female prison after an inmate gave birth alone in her cell at night.Source — The Guardian
Ireland: ex-Dundee United player raises the bar helping inmates in Dublin prison project
Leaving Mountjoy, Allardice stops to comment on a garden the prisoners tend. He said if people on the outside knew what went on beyond the negative headlines they would think twice.Source — The Courier
UK: with parents in prison, kids at risk for lasting psychiatric problems
Children who have a parent in prison may be more than twice as likely as other kids to have depression, attention problems and conduct disorders by the time they reach adolescence, a U.S. study suggests.Source — London South East
UK: Big rise in assault and self-harm incidents at Highpoint Prison prompts call for the number of people in prison to be reduced
Incidents of assault and self harm at Highpoint prison have risen in recent years, amid warnings that England and Wales’ prisons have been asked “to do too much with too little for too long”.Source — Haverhill Echo
UK: full Sutton prison inmates handed hundreds of extra days behind bars for breaking rules
Full Sutton Prison inmates were handed hundreds of extra days behind bars for breaking rules last year, new figures reveal.Source — Pocklington Post
UK: Haverigg prison to become "open prison" and double in size
HMP Haverigg is set to double in size after becoming an open prison, Ministry of Justice bosses have announced.Source — The Mail
UK: Portland prison had 'unbearable smell of dead rats'
The smell of dead rats made working conditions at a prison “unbearable”, a report has said.Source — BBC
