To my surprise one of our books was recently returned by a reviewer saying, ‘Little point right now, books are not getting to prisoners’. She explained that they are either being refused or held up by security due to the ease with which drugs can be imprinted on paper, so that in many prisons they have been stopped or are being photocopied with inbuilt delay given other priorities. I’ve no way of knowing if this is true or how general, whether just a few establishments or a wider approach. My call to the Ministry of Justice Press Office elicited first a denial, then a maybe and finally a promise to investigate how widespread the problem is. They’ve not yet come back.
Commenting on the Ministry of Justice’s safety in custody statistics, published on the 31st January 2019, Mark Day, Head of Policy and Communications at the Prison Reform Trust, said:
A ground-breaking operation to dramatically reduce uninsured driving has been hailed at the Police Federation's Roads Policing Conference in Hinckley, Leicestershire.
James Gray, Projects Manager at Videx UK, a leading manufacturer and supplier of audio and video door entry intercoms and access control systems in the UK, explains why Secured by Design (SBD) accredited systems play an important role in improving security and reducing anti-social behaviour. He also discusses why building contractors and security installers need to know about it and the role it plays in crime prevention.
The IOPC process is “traumatising” and the effect on officers involved can be “catastrophic”, says PFEW Conduct Lead Phill Matthews.
Food can impact on a prisoner's behaviour, health and even chance of rehabilitation. Here Helen Sandwell, Project Lead at Food Matters Inside & Out, explains how…
The Food Matters Inside and Out project is run by the charity Food Matters. It aims to change food systems within prisons and, in doing so, enable prisoners to make healthier food choices. The project was piloted at HMP Wandsworth and is currently at HMP High Down.
Various factors need to be in place for an individual to make heathier food choices. Not only do the food choices available to them need to be health-promoting and affordable, but also the person needs to have sufficient knowledge, attitude and intent to eat that food.
PFEW’s Roads Policing Conference and Awards 2019 takes place later this month with a full agenda, on the theme of ‘Officer Welfare Matters’.
The two day event will be at the Jury’s Inn Hotel in Hinckley, Leicestershire, on 29-30 January.
The number of women recalled to prison has more than doubled since the introduction of government measures designed to support people on release, according to a new report published by the Prison Reform Trust.
The report, Broken Trust, reveals that over 1,700 women were recalled to prison in England and Wales during the last year, and that reforms which were intended to help are making things worse. Women are trapped in the justice system rather than being enabled to rebuild their lives.
Commenting, Peter Dawson, director of the Prison Reform Trust, said:
“This is very welcome news for prisoners’ families, who are very often the key to a crime free future for people leaving prison. David Gauke is right to point to other benefits too. Access to legitimate in-cell phones can reduce tension and self-harm. It also undermines the market for illegal mobile phones in prison, and all the violence associated with it.