MPs’ knee-jerk response to knife possession won’t work
Mandatory prison sentences are not an appropriate, proportionate or effective response to the problem of knife possession.
prison
The prison book ban is not just nasty but bizarre
Encouraging prisoners to read aids their rehabilitation.
With our current prison system, Chris Grayling’s talk of ‘purposeful activity’ is meaningless
Too many prisons act like bad parents. Rather than doing anything productive with those in their care, it’s a lot less effort to simply plonk them in front of the TV to veg out.
Where is the logic in restricting prisoners’ access to exercise?
The Mail reports today that the government is to “end the cushy life in prison” for British inmates, who will apparently be denied access to television and the gym. “Instead offenders will start their life behind bars adhering to a spartan regime, wearing prison uniform and having to earn any perks,” the Mail adds.
Taking apart the flimsy case for private prisons
The right-wing Think Tank Reform published a report yesterday claiming that private firms are better at running prisons. There are fundamental problems with Reform’s analysis, however.
The “bang ’em up” brigade’s calls for longer prison sentences ignores the evidence
Andrew Neilson, is the director of campaigns at the Howard League, rebuts the latest right-wing claims on longer prison sentences deterring crime.
Over 10,000 children under 13 in cells every year must be stopped
Sophie Willett writes about the Howard League’s aim to end the practice of jailing children under 13, which currently causes over 10,000 children to be locked up each year.
Four media myths about the justice green paper
Sophie Willett, of The Howard League for Penal Reform, rebuts some of the right wing tabloids’ myths about the Ministry of Justice green paper, ‘Breaking the cycle: effective punishment, rehabilitation and sentencing of offenders’.