NewsArchivepris

November 14, 2005: Prisons Failing on HIV & Hepatitis C

Prisons provide inconsistent and often sub-standard healthcare despite high levels of HIV and hepatitis among prisoners, according to a report launched today by the Prison Reform Trust (PRT) and... more

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September 27, 2005: Campaign to End Children Dying in Custody

A national campaign to end the deaths of children in penal custody has been launched by the Howard League for Penal Reform. It also aims to end the unnecessary use of penal custody for... more

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September 20, 2005: Home Secretary on Future of Penal Policy

Home Secretary Charles Clarke gave the Prison Reform Trust’s annual lecture in London last night. In his first detailed speech on the future of penal policy, he focused on how best to prevent re-offending... more

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August 13, 2005: Prisons Breach Safe Limits, Says PRT

The Prison Reform Trust (PRT) has stated that overcrowding is forcing the Prison Service to risk good order, security and proper running of prisons. This summer, over half of the prisons in England and Wales are officially overcrowded... more

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August 5, 2005: Failure to Address Young Offenders' Needs

The vast majority of young men in prison will reoffend due to the Government’s failure to deal the needs of young adult offenders, according to research just published by the Howard League for Penal Reform... more

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July 19, 2005: Just Published - Prisons and Probation Ombudsman's Annual Report

The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman Stephen Shaw opened 224 investigations into deaths in custody last year, according to his Annual Report which... more

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July 5, 2005: New Prison Suicide Figures

The Howard League for Penal Reform has released new figures on prison suicides over the last decade. No less than 804 men, women and children have committed suicide whilst in the care of HM Prison Service in England and Wales in the last ten years. Of the 804 suicides between 1995 and 2004... more

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July 2, 2005: NOMS Chief Exec's Sudden Resignation

In a surprise move, Martin Narey, chief executive of the National Offender Management Service (NOMS), is resigning to join children's charity Barnardo's. In November 2004, Mr Narey had emphasised that he would remain in post at NOMS, though there had been some media speculation about the continuing problems at the body which has merged the prison and probation services... more

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June 28, 2005: Prison Population Increasing Fast

We know that the number of prisoners in England and Wales is increasing. However, the prison population may be growing faster than we might suppose. The Howard League for Penal Reform has revealed... more

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June 16, 2005: Sharp Rise in Prison Suicides

In a period of only 14 days in June this year, no less than 13 prisoners have died in the overcrowded prisons of England, according to a new statement from the Prison Reform Trust. The statement points out that... more

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June 2, 2005: New Report on Children in Custody

The Howard League for Penal Reform has published a report on the desperate needs of children in penal custody and on release back into the community. The report, “Children In Custody: Promoting The Legal And Human Rights Of Children”, describes the establishment of the UK's first and only legal centre to promote the legal and human rights of individual children in custody... more

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May 25, 2005: Number of Offenders Recalled to Prison Trebles

The number of offenders being recalled to prison after being released on licence in the community has more than trebled in the last five years, according to 'Recycling Offenders Through Prison', a new report from the Prison Reform Trust. The number is set to increase... more

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April 29, 2005: Prison Population Hits Record High

There are no votes to be had in appearing to be soft on crime, so it may not be a major focus for public debate that the prison population in England and Wales has hit a new record high. Figures released today by HM Prison Service indicate that we are now imprisoning 75,324 inmates... more

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April 19, 2005: Howard League Inquiry on Children in Prison

A year after the death of 15 year old, Gareth Myatt, who died whilst being restrained by staff at Rainsbrook secure training centre, The Howard League for Penal Reform has today called for evidence as part of a major national independent Inquiry into the treatment of children in penal institutions... more

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April 4, 2005: New Call for Sentenced Prisoners to Get the Vote

Sentenced prisoners are currently barred from voting. A coalition of politicians, church leaders, ex-offenders, human rights groups and prison reformers is calling for sentenced prisoners to be given the vote in the forthcoming UK general election. The Barred from Voting campaign organised by the Prison Reform Trust and Unlock, the national association of ex-offenders... more

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March 22, 2005: ‘Contestability’ In Kent Prisons

Home Office Minister for Correctional Services and Reducing Re-offending Paul Goggins today announced a competition to operate a cluster of three Kent prisons. As part of its contestability agenda... more

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March 22, 2005:Prison Officers' Trade Union Rights

Full trade union rights have been restored to prison officers in England, Scotland and Wales. In line with the commitment made by former Home Secretary David Blunkett... more

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March 12, 2005: Prisons Overcrowded, says Howard League

Figures released yesterday by the Howard League for Penal Reform show that no less than 76 prisons in England and Wales are overcrowded. Almost three-fifths of male prisons and over one fifth of female prisons are overcrowed. This comes on the same day that new National Offender Management Service (NOMS) figures on prison population reached a record high... more

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March 4, 2005: Record Number of Men in Prison

The Prison Reform Trust have stated that there are more men in prison than ever before, as the Prison Service is forced to make financial savings and the Home Office reduces the overall number of prison places. According to official figures... more

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February 23, 2005: New Sentencing Figures Published

Sentencing statistics for 2003 for England and Wales have just been published by the Home Office Research, Development and Statistics Directorate. Key points include... more

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February 10, 2005: Number of older prisoners increasing

The Howard League for Penal Reform has warned that the prison system will have to deal with huge numbers of older prisoners. The number of prisoners over 60 has trebled in a decade... more

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February 9, 2005: Prison Suicides "A Stain On Our Democracy"

Fifty two prisons in England and Wales suffered at least one suicide of a prisoner in 2004 and 13 prisons experienced three or more deaths, the Howard League for Penal Reform stated today... more

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January 26, 2005: Who Profits From Private Punishment?

A new report from the Prison Reform Trust entitled Private Punishment: Who Profits? calls for an open and vigorous debate about the role of the private sector in running prisons. The UK operates the most privatised... more

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January 24, 2005: Prison Reform Trust Director Speaks

Commenting on the Home Office publication of long term prison population projections, Prison Reform Trust Director Juliet Lyon called on the Government to be ‘more robust in its efforts to drive down prison numbers... more

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January 13, 2005: Changing Correctional Services and Sentencing

The government publishes the Management of Offenders and Sentencing Bill today. The Bill builds on changes already underway with the establishment of the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) and changes to the sentencing framework...more

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January 7, 2005: Howard League Hails Radical Rethink of Prison Work

The Howard League for Penal Reform has welcomed the Home Affairs Select Committee report calling for a radical rethink of the prison regime so that prisoners benefit from a real work experience arising from the Howard League's...more

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December 2, 2004: Foreign National Prisoners Reach Record High

There are a record 9,000 foreign national prisoners in jails in England and Wales, one in eight of the overall prison population. This follows an almost threefold increase in numbers over the past decade, according to a report published yesterday by the Prison Reform Trust. There has been a 152 per cent increase in foreign national prisoners in the last ten years compared to a 55 per cent increase in British nationals.

The report, Going The Distance - Developing Effective Policy and Practice with Foreign National Prisoners is authored by Hindpal Singh Bhui, who has extensive practice experience of working with foreign national prisoners.

The report highlights a number of areas where foreign national's needs have been neglected. It notes that the official figures may well underestimate the actual number of foreign national prisoners as there are 1,200 people in custody whose nationality is not known - the Prison Service lacks a complete, accurate picture of the number of foreign national prisoners. For many prisoners their nationality has not been recorded or is incorrectly recorded.

The overall figure may well underestimate the actual foreign national prisoner population by between 10 and 20 per cent. At the end of January 2004 1,200 people in prison were recorded as being of 'unknown nationality'. Foreign national prisoners come from 168 countries, but over half are from just six countries (Jamaica, Irish Republic, Nigeria, Pakistan, Turkey and India). A quarter are Jamaicans, by far, the largest single group.

On 31st January 2004 there were 8,937 foreign national prisoners (defined as anyone without a UK passport), one in eight (12 per cent) of the current total prison population of just under 75,000. One in five of the 4,633 women in prison are foreign nationals. On 30th September 2004 the overall number of foreign national prisoners had increased slightly to 9,010.

The majority of foreign national prisoners (47%) have committed drug offences - nearly half of sentenced men (43%) and more than three quarters of sentenced women (79%) compared to just over a tenth (13%) of British sentenced men and nearly a third (29%) of British sentenced women. The rise in the foreign national prison population is linked to the increase in the number of offenders convicted of drugs offences over the past decade.

The report says the needs of foreign national prisoners are being overlooked and they are not being given the attention and support they require. It says that in some cases they are treated with disrespect and experience racism.Last year eight foreign national prisoners committed suicide, out of a total of 94 suicides. In the past five years, 35, have taken their own lives.

The report notes that there are now two prisons, the Verne in Dorset and the women's prison Morton Hall in Lincolnshire, where foreign national prisoners make up half or more of the population. In sixteen prisons they make up a quarter or more of the prison population.

Drawing on published evidence and original research in seven prisons, as well as the author's extensive first-hand experience, the report highlights a number of areas where foreign national's needs have been neglected:

A lack of information - foreign national prisoners experience particular problems because of being poorly informed about the legal system and prison rules and procedures. They struggle to access accurate legal and immigration advice during their sentence.
Immigration related problems - Many foreign nationals remain in jail having completed their sentence because there is a failure by the authorities to monitor and then make arrangements for those who have been recommended for deportation.
Language barriers - There has been a failure to provide adequate translation and interpretation facilities which means prisoners miss out on basic provisions, such as showers and association because they have not understood staff instructions or basic questions.
Isolation and mental health concerns - Foreign national prisoners experience unnecessary difficulties trying to maintain family contact, especially fulfilling their roles as parents. Separation from family in an alien environment can mean that their mental health needs are often greater than for other prisoners.
Racism and disrespect - Foreign national prisoners say that racism and a lack of respect and understanding from prison staff is not uncommon.
Preparation for release - There is a lack of proper procedures in place to prepare foreign national prisoners for their release and there are insufficient resettlement programmes specifically for foreign national prisoners.

Based on the implementation of a successful foreign national strategy originally developed in HMP Wandsworth, the report puts forward proposals for the Prison Service to promote effective local and national policy and practice with foreign national prisoners. It concludes that despite pockets of good practice there is an absence of strategic direction and support for foreign national prisoners. The report recommends the development of auditable standards and the formulation of a distinct Prison Service policy. It welcomes the introduction of foreign national co-ordinators in prisons and calls for more ring-fenced time and support for this group of staff. It presses for foreign national prisoners to be given support and training so that they can help one another.

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December 1, 2004: Napo and POA Resign From NOMS Board

Yesterday Judy McKnight, Chair of probation union Napo and Colin Moses, Chair of the Prison Officers Association resigned from the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) Board. Ms McKnight has published a copy of her resignation letter to Home Office Prisons and Probation Minister Paul Goggins. Her letter reads:

“I am writing formally to register my resignation from the NOMS Board with immediate effect.

As both Colin Moses and I have stated from the outset, it is only possible for us to continue on the Board if we can be there as representatives of our respective trade unions. Unfortunately, you have not been able to agree to our request.

As members of the Board on an individual basis it is clear that we do not have an equivalent status to other Board members. For instance, should we be unable to attend a meeting, we are unable to send deputies or be issued with Board papers.

There have also been a number of public references to the fact that the unions are represented on the NOMS Board. Martin Narey's interview in the Guardian on November 17th was one of the latest examples. This article stated:

"The board is a very large vehicle chaired by the minister in an attempt to bring together all parties. We are moving into a situation where we are going to have different providers. So we have the head of the public sector there, a representative of the private sector and the three main trade unions. This is a genuine attempt at real consultation."

This statement implies that the trade unions have equal status on the Board to other members, including not only the head of public sector prisons, but also the representative of private sector prisons. This is not the case.

It would, therefore, appear that our position as Board members is advantageous to NOMS management in seeking to convey to staff and to the public an impression of a commitment to consultation.

However, from our perspective, the reality has felt very different.

We say this particularly when it has just been announced that steps are now being taken to speed up the effective dismantling of the Probation Service in order to provide for the purchaser/provider split that is necessary for contestability, along with the announcement that a group of prisons will be identified for market testing in the next few weeks. These announcements, in respect of both the Probation Service and the Prison Service, have ignored the outcome of the consultation that has taken place to date.

Although we are resigning from the NOMS Board for the reasons set out above, we nevertheless hope that we can jointly discuss with you how best to provide for real consultation and discussion between us on developments in respect of NOMS.

Ensuring that the views and concerns of staff are properly heard and addressed is vital to the successful management of change. We therefore trust that we can meet with you at an early date to discuss how consultation should take place between us in a way which ensures that the views of our members are fully and properly taken into account in the decision making processes of NOMS.”

A leaked account in The Guardian of a meeting at Downing Street on November 18, 2004 indicates that an announcement naming prisons for market testing is to be made in the near future. It also suggests that NOMS staff will consider which areas in probation are suitable for market testing. It is suggested that there will be a focus on probation hostels, accredited programmes and drug testing and treatment orders. NOMS chief Martin Narey and Home Office ministers deny that contestability, as market testing is known, equates to privatisation, though others including Richard Garside of the Crime and Society Foundation have argued that contestability is very much about privatisation.

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November 19, 2004: Public Inquiry Into Death Of Zahid Mubarek Begins

Over 70 witnesses will be called to give evidence at the Inquiry into the death of Zahid Mubarek, which has started its full hearings. The inquiry will investigate the tragic case of Zahid, 19, who was murdered four years ago, at Feltham Young Offender Institution in west London, and make recommendations to prevent such tragedies in the future. Zahid, of Walthamstow, east London, was killed by his cellmate Robert Stewart, on 21 March 2000, when Stewart hit him about the head with a table leg, while he slept, during the early hours of the morning.

The inquiry is currently scheduled to take oral evidence from 76 witnesses, with 48 people due to give evidence before the end of the year and 28 in January and February, 2005. In total, the inquiry has approached more than 120 individuals to provide witness statements. The inquiry hearings are expected to continue until March, 2005, after which the chairman Mr Justice Keith will write his final report aiming to hand it over to the Home Secretary at the earliest possible opportunity. CrimLinks previously reported on the setting up of the Inquiry here.

A list of those who have been asked to give evidence on each day will be published in advance on the Inquiry website. A full transcript of the hearings will be posted on the site at the end of each day.

The inquiry will take the form of a non-statutory inquiry. A statutory inquiry would have the power to compel witnesses to attend and give evidence, or face contempt of court proceedings. Similarly it would carry with it the power to compel the production of documents, etc. There is no power under the Prisons Act for the Home Secretary to set up a statutory inquiry. In order to make this a statutory inquiry it would have to be held under the Tribunals of Inquiry (Evidence) Act 1921. The 1921 Act is intended to be confined to matters of vital public importance or situations where an event has caused a nationwide crisis of confidence.

Civil servants are expected to co-operate with a non-statutory inquiry under their implied contractual terms and the Civil Service Code. That includes answering all questions and giving a full and truthful account. There is arguably no significant difference in cost, time or scale between a statutory and non-statutory inquiry. All the Inquiry hearings will be in public.

Home Secretary David Blunkett announced the Inquiry on 29th April 2004 following the death of Zahid Mubarek. The aim was to investigate the circumstances which led up to Zahid’s death and make recommendations about the prevention of such attacks in the future. Three expert advisers will assist Inquiry Chairman Mr Justice Keith and his report will be published after the Inquiry has concluded its investigations. The inquiry's legal team has been collecting documentary evidence since April 2004. It has amassed almost 14,500 pages of evidence for consideration. The extent of the evidence gathering that has taken place underlines the fact that Mr Justice Keith is determined that the investigation is both thorough and leaves no stone unturned. The chairman will write his report as quickly as possible, once the hearings have finished, and then present it to the Home Secretary.

Mr Justice Keith said:

"The tragic killing of Zahid Mubarek raises questions of considerable public concern about the treatment of persons in custody. I can assure members of Zahids family and all interested parties that this Inquiry will be the objective and independent public investigation into his death, which the courts have said, should take place. The Inquiry will be as thorough as is necessary, so that the lessons to be learned from Zahids death can be clearly identified."

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November 9, 2004: New Prison Statistics Published

New quarterly statistics for the custodial population in England and Wales have been published by the Offender Management Analysis section of the Home Office Research Development and Statistics Directorate. They provide details on the period from January to March 2004.

Key points include:

The population in custody at the end of March 2004 was 75,770 (3 percent up on March 2003). This is similar to increases over the previous 3 quarters. The population in custody included 75,295 held in prison and 475 people aged under 18 held in Local Authority Secure Children’s Homes and Secure Training Centres. This is a change to previous recording practice (in, for example, Prison Statistics England and Wales) where ‘population in custody’ just covered those held in prison establishments and police cells.
Recent increases (up to the first quarter of 2004) in the sentenced prison population have been partly because more people have been received into prison under sentence. For example, the number received for sentences of less than or equal to 6 months increased by 13 percent. Offences with significant increases in shorter sentence receptions included assault and bail act offences. The population under sentences of 4 years or more also increased reflecting the continuing impact of longer custodial sentences in previous years.
The female prison population increased by 4 percent between March 2003 and March 2004, marginally more than the increase in the male prison population of 3 per cent over the same
period.
The large increases seen in previous quarters in the number of people received into prison for defaulting on fine payment continued in the first quarter of 2004; up 53 per cent to 451 on the first quarter 2003. (As they serve very short periods in prison, fine defaulters accounted for 0.1 percent of the total prison population at the end of March 2004.)
1,687 prisoners were considered for parole in the first quarter of 2004 with 52 percent of them being recommended for parole. The number of females cases considered for parole increased by 9 per cent while the number of male cases decreased by 1 per cent.

Information on the prison population and ethnicity will be published later. However, the population of female foreign nationals fell by 2 percent between March 2003 and March 2004. Prisoners of Jamaican nationality accounted for the largest group of female foreign nationals, at 35 per cent of this group. Male foreign nationals continued to increase (up 4 percent), but at slower rate than in 2003.

Monthly tables of population in custody statistics are available on the Home Office website here.

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November 5, 2004: Harsh Reality For Young People In Prison

A new report criticises the government for neglecting young people in custody. The report, entitled A Lost Generation, is published by Community Care magazine and the Prison Reform Trust (PRT). Inadequate rehabilitation services and the frequent movement of young adults around the prison estate is leading to nearly three quarters (71%) being reconvicted within two years of release.

The report says that government inaction is in danger of condemning these young people to a ‘life of crime’. It notes the government’s failure to uphold its 2001 manifesto pledge to improve the standard of custodial accommodation and offending behaviour programmes for 18-20 year old offenders, the peak age for offending. Many young prisoners spend up to 20 hours locked in shared cells designed only for one person, forcing them to use the toilet in front of their cellmate and eat their meals in the same cramped, unhygienic conditions.

Over-crowding in prisons is leading to the frequent movement of young people from one jail to another, sometimes over great distances. This causes distress and instability as well as disruption to educational and training courses vital for young people’s rehabilitation. Family ties are consequently being broken – yet the Home Office has recognised that family support prevents re-offending. Two thirds of young people surveyed said that being moved to another prison had made it more difficult to keep in touch with their families.

On October 8, 2004 there were 8,152 prisoners aged 18-20 in England and Wales, 11 percent of the total prison population. Each year some 15,000 young adults are sent to prison. In the last ten years the number of sentenced young women imprisoned has more than trebled. The minority ethnic population, particularly young black men, are over-represented in the young adult prison population. Commission for Racial Equality research demonstrates that in 2002 there were more African Caribbean entrants to prison (over 11,500) than there were to UK universities (around 8,000). Young people in prison have much higher incidences of poor basic skills, unemployment, mental health and drug and alcohol problems. A quarter have terminated their education early and up to 40 percent have been in local authority care.

The report which draws on interviews with young adults and information from Independent Monitoring Boards, also found that:

Lack of investment means that very few programmes are tailored to the young person’s specific needs. Currently only six establishments holding young people provide an average of 30 hours of purposeful activity each week, meaning most young prisoners are spending long hours locked in their cells with nothing to do.
The majority of young people are sentenced to less than 6 months in custody. The short prison sentence can result in loss of accommodation, employment and family ties.
Despite pockets of good practice, young people are not being adequately supported to finding housing and either employment, education or training on release.

The report supports the aims of Community Care’s Back on Track campaign, which highlights the failures of the current prison system and calls for improved conditions to prevent the growing epidemic of suicide and self-harm, whilst urging the Government to conduct public inquiries into the death of every child or young person held in prison.

The report calls for a complete review of provision, proper planning, a substantive increase in resources and the appointment of a director for the young adult estate. It recommends developing effective community penalties for 18-20 year olds, strengthening court diversion and liaison for the mentally ill and creating smaller custodial units for those comparatively few young people who need to be detained which:

Are safe, close to home and have an emphasis on continuity of care
Are in the community with close links to statutory and voluntary services
Include resettlement plans, age-appropriate regimes and the active involvement of young people

Report author Enver Solomon, Senior Policy Officer at the PRT said:

“Young adults in prison should be a high priority for government. They are a prolific offending group who have a strong likelihood of becoming long term adult offenders. Their time in custody is critical if they are to be turned away from a life of crime. Yet this report has shown that they have been so neglected they have effectively become a lost generation within the prison system. It is not surprising that nearly three quarters of young adults are reconvicted within two years of release from jail."

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September 29, 2004: New Funding for Probation and Prisons

Home Secretary David Blunkett has announced new funding for prisons and probation in England and Wales. The new funding is part of an 8.4% increase - around £320 million - in spending on the Prison and Probation Services next year.

This sum adds to the significant funds already committed to prison and probation. It includes the recruitment of 1650 frontline staff and 150 support staff - to be recruited across all 42 probation areas over the next two years. It will bring the total number of probation staff to 21,000, and continues the year-on-year increases in new probation staff.

According to the Home Office, the aim is to ensure that “both custody and community punishments are modern and can address the needs of society and offenders by reducing re-offending and cutting crime”.

The Home Secretary outlined the policy thus:

"Providing modern and effective prisons is central to this Government's objective of reducing re-offending, protecting the public and sending the right signal to those for whom punishment in the community has failed to redeem their behaviour. I am committed to increasing places in prisons and probation to ensure that there is a prison place for all those serious and persistent offenders who need it and an effective community alternative for less serious offenders."

Although England and Wales already have proportionally the greatest number of prisoners per head of population in Western Europe, the current plan is to further increase prison capacity, taking the number of new prison places to over three-and-a-half thousand. Mr Blunkett stated that around £100 million of money in 2005-06 will pay for the start of a programme creating 1,300 new prison places. This is in addition to 2,400 new places due to be added to capacity over the next 18 months from the existing expansion programme.

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September 29, 2004: Intermittent Custody - Here to Stay

Home Secretary David Blunkett has announced the expansion of the use of intermittent custody, which entails prisoners spending either weekends or weekdays in prison and the rest of the week in the community.

The new sentence aims to reduce re-offending by reducing the negative impact of short custodial sentences. It is aimed at offenders whose offences are sufficiently serious to warrant a prison sentence, but who do not present such a risk as to require immediate full-time custody. Under the terms of the sentence - introduced following the Criminal Justice Act 2003 - custody is served intermittently, for a number of days each week. Offenders will spend the remainder of the week under Probation Service supervision in the community, working, looking for employment or undertaking activities such as community work. The new sentence has been piloted since January 2004 in two purpose-built prison units in Lancashire and Lincolnshire.

Commenting on intermittent custody, Mr Blunkett states that it gave more prisoners the chance to stay in their community and their jobs while serving their sentence. He added:

"Already our early pilots show that offenders have been able to keep jobs and small businesses that would have been lost if a sentence of full-time custody had been imposed. It is also helping women offenders with young children by avoiding the break-up of families. At the same time intermittent custody can play a key role by punishing offenders whilst ensuring they undertake programmes to address their behaviour and make reparation to the community - thereby increasing the chance of avoiding a return to crime afterwards."

Those watching the progress of the new National Offender Management Service will be interested in the analysis of Home Office Minister for Correctional Services Paul Goggins:

"Intermittent Custody demonstrates the closer working of the Prison and Probation Services that will be increasingly in evidence over the coming months following the introduction of the National Offender Management Service."

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September 23, 2004: Research on prisoner-on-prisoner homicide

The Home Office Research Development and Statistics (RDS) website has just published a report by Ghazala Sattar on Prisoner-on-prisoner homicide in England and Wales. The Report is downloadable here. While research in western countries suggests that prisoner homicide is increasing, up to now little had been known about the situation in England and Wales. Sattar has undertaken a descriptive study of the nature and extent of prisoner-on-prisoner homicides in England and Wales between 1990 and 2001. The main findings:

There was an average of two homicides per year from 1990 to 2001 (26 in total).
Two-thirds of the 26 murders were in high security and local prisons.
Twelve victims were in shared cells and 11 had been killed by their cellmate.
Victims were likely to be young, white, male, repeat offenders who were serving a sentence for violence, robbery or drugs offences. They were also more likely to be housed in shared cells. (This profile is similar to that of assailants and the general prison population.)
The most common motive was an altercation between prisoners, though there were also drug- and debt-related motives. In one case the attack was recorded as being racially motivated

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September 8, 2004: Lord Carlile heads inquiry into children in custody

The Howard League for Penal Reform announced yesterday that Lord Carlile of Berriew QC will lead an independent inquiry into the use of strip-searching, physical restraint and segregation for children in penal custody. The inquiry’s terms of reference are:

"To investigate the use of physical restraint, solitary confinement and forcible strip searching of children in prisons, secure training centres and local authority secure children’s homes and to make recommendations."

The inquiry will build on Howard League research which indicates that physical restraint in the commercially managed secure training centres has been used on no less than 11,593 occasions despite the fact that they only hold 190 children who are predominately aged 14 and 15. The Howard League is also concerned at the high level of self-injury by juveniles in prison service establishments, particularly when children are held in virtual solitary confinement as a punishment. There were 117 incidents of attempted suicide or self-injury recorded involving juveniles in segregation in prisons in 2003. In April 2004, 15 year old Gareth Myatt died in Rainsbrook Secure Training Centre whilst being restrained by three staff.

The inquiry will investigate the routine practice of stripping children on reception to prison.

According to Lord Carlile:

“My inquiry will consider the various ways that children are treated in penal custody that in any other circumstance would trigger a child protection investigation and could even result in criminal charges. We recognise that many of the children held in custody exhibit challenging behaviour and have complex health and social needs, but we are concerned about the forcible stripping of young people, long periods of isolation as punishment and the physical restraint of children.”

The Howard League notes that on 20 August 2004, there were 2,573 boys aged 15 to 18 held in fourteen prison service young offender institutions (YOIs). 18 year olds are sometimes kept in YOIs to finish sentences begun when they were juveniles. 108 girls aged 16 to 18 were held in four prisons. This adds up to a total of 3,135 children in penal custody, a significant increase since 1997 when it stood at 2,590. 12 young people aged 15 to 17 have taken their own lives in prisons since 1997. 1,659 incidents of self-injury or attempted suicide by juveniles in prisons were recorded from 1998 to 2002.

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September 6, 2004: Thousands of Women Needlessly Imprisoned

Six out of ten women imprisoned while awaiting trial are subsequently acquitted or given a non-custodial sentence according to a Prison Reform Trust report by Dr Kimmett Edgar. The report states that the number of women being remanded into custody has more than trebled in a decade, despite the fact that more than three quarters are charged with non-violent or minor offences.
'Lacking Conviction: The rise of the women's remand population' says that very few women are charged with sufficiently serious crimes to require custody and too little is known of the problems they face to prove that the deprivation of liberty is necessary. Whilst in prison their lives are damaged by loss of homes, job prospects and contact with their families.
The report says that women on remand constitute one of the fastest growing groups among the prison population. It notes:

There was a 196% increase in the number of women remanded into custody between 1992 and 2002 compared to a 52% increase for men.
Of the 12,000 women sent to prison in 2002 two-thirds were on remand.
More women are remanded into custody for theft and handling stolen goods than any other crime.
Following trial 59 per cent do not receive a custodial sentence and one in five is acquitted.
Four out of ten remanded women have received help or treatment for mental health in the year before being sent to prison and a quarter say they have injected drugs in the month before custody.

The report highlights the fact that once in prison women receive inadequate support. They do not get the drug treatment or mental health care they require, are confined to their cells for long hours and have limited opportunities to stay in touch with family. The provision of bail information has broken down in many prisons. It concludes that custodial remand is used too frequently by the courts due to unacceptable failures to gather, present and transfer information about the needs and experiences of vulnerable women. There are also breakdowns in bail support in the community, a scarcity of court liaison and diversion schemes and gaps in healthcare and housing provision geared to the needs of women.

The report recommends:

Custodial remand must be reserved for those charged with serious or violent offences.
The Government must conduct a wide-ranging review of the use of remand and bail in England and Wales.
A national network of small, local women-only supervisions centres must be established to work with women who come into contact with the criminal justice system. These centres should provide women with multi-agency support and should replace prison custody for all women except those whose offences demonstrate a serious danger to society.
An increase in the provision and an improvement in the quality of court based diversion schemes for women with serious mental health problems.
An improvement in the provision of information to the courts, particularly adequate social, psychiatric and probation reports, prior to taking a decision to deny bail.

Prison Reform Trust Director Juliet Lyon, stated:
"There is clear evidence that, instead of getting the support they need, vulnerable women are being jailed due to breakdowns at every point in the criminal justice system. Sorting out the needless use of remand would reduce the women's prison population at a stroke".

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September 4, 2004: Prison Suicides Reach Record High

With prison overcrowding at its highest recorded level, the BBC has reported that in August 2004, more prisoners killed themselves in prisons in England and Wales than in any other single month since records began. There have now been 70 suicides in prison since the start of 2004. According to evidence given to the House of Commons Joint Committee on Human Rights for their interim report on deaths in custody, 2004, almost two-thirds of prisoners who commit suicide have a history of drug misuse. About a third of suicides occur within the first week of a prisoner being imprisoned and no less than one in seven within two days of admission.

MIND evidence to the Joint Committee on Human Rights stated that:

“Incidences of suicide and self-harm often arise either due to inadequate care and support available to people whilst in a detained setting, or when conditions a person has been detained in are not conducive to minimising anxiety and ensuring they feel safe. This may result in suicide or self-harm, or alternatively in increased agitation or aggressive behaviour which may lead to physical restraint or increased medication being used which has in the past led to deaths.”

Prison Reform Trust evidence to the same committee stated that there was a clear link between the high prevalence of mental illness among prisoners and the level of suicides.

“Many prisoners have significant mental health problems. Research… has found that 40% of male and 63% of female sentenced prisoners show symptoms of at least one neurotic disorder, such as depression, anxiety and phobias. Nearly two thirds of male sentenced prisoners and half of female prisoners suffer from a personality disorder. These levels of mental illness are three times higher than among the general population… A high proportion of prisoners have been treated in psychiatric hospitals… one in five male sentenced prisoners and 15% of female prisoners have previously been admitted to a psychiatric hospital.”

From 1 April 2004, all deaths in prisons, probation hostels and immigration detention accommodation have been investigated by Stephen Shaw, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman.

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August 10, 2004: Howard League warning on children in prison

The Howard League for Penal Reform has written to Home Secretary David Blunkett, warning him that proposed new rules covering the 2,800 children in prisons will fail to protect them. The proposed rules allow for routine stripping including inspection of the genital area of children and the use of physical restraint that causes pain. They could languish for long hours alone in cells with little or no education and no exercise.

The rules which will be issued as a Prison Service Order (PSO) to governors, had to be re-written following a successful judicial review by the Howard League in 2002 which found the Home Secretary to be acting unlawfully for refusing to apply the protection of the Children Act to children in prisons. The PSO, which is due to come into force in September 2004, fails to mention the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child despite the fact that this places the UK government under an obligation to be guided by the best interests of the child relating to the care of children.

Howard League Director Frances Crook wrote to the Home Secretary setting out detailed concerns:

There is no longer a special order for girls despite the fact that they have significant different needs to boys
The previous order specified a minimum of 10 hours out of cell, 6 of which had to be purposeful whereas the new order is vague and means children could spend many more hours locked alone in their cells
Provision for education is diluted so that in future it appears that children in prison will not be entitled to a minimum number of hours of education
The order is wrong in law when it claims that children on remand are not subject to the young offender institution rules. The Howard League for Penal Reform judicial review SP v SSHD made it clear that a child held in a young offender institutions had to be subject to YOI rules
The proposed rules allow for routine strip-searching of children, which includes inspection of the genital area by adult staff, despite the fact that many children in prison have been sexually abused.
The proposed rules allow for pain compliant physical restraint, a system designed to control adults.

Frances Crook stated:

“The prison service construes the need for child protection almost entirely around historical abuse the children experienced prior to custody but excludes abuse they may suffer inside prison. The Howard League for Penal Reform research and case studies show that children experience physical abuse in prison when restrained, held in solitary confinement and forcibly stripped. A comprehensive child protection policy should also protect children from bullying and violence by other teenagers.”

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August 6, 2004: 'Land of the Free' has 6.9 million people in prison, on probation, on parole

The USA’s combined federal, state and local adult correctional population reached a new record of almost 6.9 million men and women in 2003, according to figures just released by the US Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS). The bulletin, "Probation and Parole in the United States, 2003" was written by BJS statisticians Lauren E. Glaze and Seri Palla. This represents an increase of 130,700 people since December 31, 2002 .

In the ‘land of the free’, about 3.2% of the nation's adult population – about 1 in every 32 adults, were imprisoned, on probation or on parole in 2003.

The correctional population of 6,889,800 includes people incarcerated in prisons and jails as well as those on probation and parole. On June 30, 2003, 1,387,269 adults were incarcerated in federal and state prisons and 691,301 inmates in local jails.

As of December 31, 2003, 4,073,987 adults were on probation - a period of supervision in the community following a conviction - and 774,588 on parole - a period of conditional supervised release following a prison term.

At the end of last year, the number of adults on probation or parole reached a record high of more than 4.8 million, which was 70 percent of all persons under federal, state or local correctional supervision. More than 1 million of the nation's probationers and parolees were in Texas (534,260) and California (485,039).

More than half of the probationers were white, 30% were black, 12% were Hispanic and 25 were of other races. Women comprised 23% of all adults on probation.

Of the almost 2.2 million probationers discharged from supervision during 2003, about 3 in 5 had successfully met the conditions of their supervision. About 16 percent were incarcerated because of a rule violation or a new offense, and 4 percent had absconded.

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July 15, 2004: New Prison Service Annual Report Out Today

The Prison Service Annual Report has been published today. The report outlines performance in public sector prisons over the past year, and notes that HM Prison Service met nine of its fourteen Key Performance Indicators (KPIs):

There were 15 escapes from prisons and prison escorts, and no Category A escapes
There was only one escape from escort per 39,377 prisoners
Average staff sickness rate was 13.3 days
The rate for timely delivery of prisoners to court was 82%
Resettlement: 32,592 prisoners had a job, education or training within a month of release
5.5% of staff were from a minority ethnic group
Education targets were significantly exceeded in most areas, including Work Skills awards and Basic Skills awards
9,169 offending behaviour programmes were completed (though the target of 1168 sex offender treatment programme completions was not met)

The Service failed to meet five key performance targets:

The rate of positive mandatory drug tests was 12.3% against the target of 10%
The rate of self-inflicted deaths was 135.9 per 100,000 prisoners against a target of 112.8 (a small improvement on the 2002/3 rate)
The provision of purposeful activity was an average 23.2 hours per week against a target of 24 hours
The average rate of doubling, or the no. of prisoners held two to a cell designed for one, was 21.7% against a target of 18%
The rate of serious assaults was 1.54% against a target of 1.20%

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June 1, 2004: National Offender Management Service (NOMS): It's Official

The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) was officially established today (1 June, 2004). Surprisingly, particularly in view of the scale of the new service, this date almost escaped media notice - the only mainstream press comments being short pieces in the Independent and the Scotsman.

NOMS, headed by Chief Executive Martin Narey, will be a single service, with around 65,000 public sector staff and an initial budget of £3.2 billion. The government states that NOMS’s central purpose is the reduction of re-offending through more consistent and effective offender management. The Carter review of correctional service in January 2004 stated that if government failed to act to rebalance the system we would, by the end of the decade, have 93,000 people in prison and 300,000 on community sentences. The government believes that by rebalancing the system the prison population can be held at around 80,000.

According to Home Office Prisons and Probation minister Paul Goggins, NOMS:

“provides a once in a generation opportunity to revolutionise the way we treat offenders and challenge offending behaviour.”

Probation staff union NAPO disagrees. It takes the view that:

“NOMS is not about merging the prison and probation services; nor about creating a new streamlined single employing body, to oversee the management of offenders. NOMS is actually about increasing the number of employers involved in offender management. It is about pitting these employers - pu blic, private and voluntary sector - against each other, in a competitive framework dubbed "contestability", in order to drive down costs.” (NAPO NOMS campaign bulletin no. 9)

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April 30, 2004: Racism at Yaryl's Wood

An independent report into allegations of racism and mistreatment of detainees at Yarl’s Wood Removal Centre has found that there was not a general culture of racism, violence and abuse.

The report, by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman Stephen Shaw, did substantiate most of the recent allegations of racist and other abusive language but found that they were isolated and involved a very small number of staff against whom disciplinary action has been taken. However, the report makes 29 recommendations, all of which have been accepted.

The full report can be downloaded by clicking here here.

The then Home Office Minister Beverley Hughes commissioned an investigation following articles in the Daily Mirror in December 2003.

In the conclusion of his report Mr Shaw says:

"I have concluded that most of the things that Mr Sommerlad (the Mirror reporter) said happened did happen. I have also concluded that there is not a culture of abuse, racism and violence at Yarl’s Wood. These are apparently contradictory findings.

"Mr Sommerlad’s allegations are largely based on what was said during the five week training course which he attended. When taken out of context, some of these remarks were, at the least, unfortunate. There were also a number of remarks that were simply unacceptable, regardless of context.

"It is important to note that these remarks were attributable to a small handful of people. While it is of concern that they felt able to speak as they did, I note that two of the three no longer work for the company and I am satisfied that GSL has taken appropriate action. This and the thoroughness of their investigation and my own will have served to reinforce the point that racism in any form is unacceptable.

"I have found no evidence to support Mr Sommerlad’s assertion that staff had an unwonted enthusiasm for control and restraint or were violent towards detainees."

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29 April 2004: Public Inquiry into the Murder of Zahid Mubarek

Home Secretary David Blunkett has announced a public enquiry into the murder of Zahid Mubarek at Feltham Young Offender Institution. The inquiry will be a non-statutory inquiry. While a statutory inquiry would have the power to compel witnesses to attend and give evidence, or face contempt of court proceedings, there is no power under the Prisons Act for the Home Secretary to set up a statutory inquiry. Civil servants would be expected to co-operate with a non-statutory inquiry under their implied contractual terms and the Civil Service Code. That includes answering all questions and giving a full and truthful account. There is no real difference in cost, time or scale between a statutory and non-statutory inquiry.

Mr Blunkett stated:

"I am today announcing that, in line with the House of Lords judgement on 16 October 2003, I have established a public inquiry into the murder of Zahid Mubarek at Feltham Young Offender Institution in March 2000. The Honourable Mr Justice Keith will chair the inquiry; he will be assisted by three expert advisors who will provide advice and support to the inquiry on matters relating to race, prison operations and issues affecting prisoners. The inquiry will start immediately with the following terms of reference:"

"In the light of the House of Lords judgement in the case of Regina v. Secretary of State for the Home Department ex parte Amin, to investigate and report to the Home Secretary on the death of Zahid Mubarek, and the events leading up to the attack on him, and make recommendations about the prevention of such attacks in the future, taking into account the investigations that have already taken place - in particular, those by the Prison Service and the Commission for Racial Equality."

A report of the inquiry, subject to matters of confidentiality, will be published."

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