News

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  • Holloway prison site to go on sale this autumn

    Wednesday, 02 August, 2017

    The Ministry of Justice is planning to put the former Holloway prison site up for sale this autumn. The news came in a letter from the Justice Secretary, David Lidington, to our Director, Richard Garside.

    In the letter, Mr Lidington wrote that 'we will be seeking expressions of interest for the site from interested parties ahead of formal marketing which we expect to take place in the autumn'. Mr Lidington also indicated that 'redevelopment for a residential-led scheme is the most likely option'.

  • Call for parliament to investigate tagging fiasco

    Friday, 28 July, 2017

    The Ministry of Justice should consult widely and transparently with public sector, private sector and civil society organisations on plans to electronically monitor those under a criminal sanction, if it is to avoid the waste and chaos that characterised attempts to develop a new satellite-enabled GPS tag. Parliament should also investigate the 'vast waste of time, energy and money' expended by the Ministry of Justice as its unrealistic programme lurched from one crisis to another.

  • We force government to release secret prison report

    Monday, 24 July, 2017

    Our Senior Associate, Rebecca Roberts, finally won her six month battle with the Ministry of Justice to release a report about the purported economic benefits new prisons brings to local economies. The disclosure of the report followed an investigation by the Information Commissioner's office. You can download the report below.

  • Justice Secretary urged to rethink Holloway prison future

    Friday, 21 July, 2017

    We have written to the recently appointed Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor, David Lidington, urging him to listen to the people of Islington and consider their views and needs in any future decisions about the former Holloway prison site.

    The letter is signed by the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, Women in Prison, Islington Kill the Housing Act, Islington Trades Union Council, St George & All Saints Tufnell Park Church, Islington Hands off Our Public Services, and Reclaim Holloway.

  • Comment on police officer numbers

    Thursday, 20 July, 2017

    The Centre for Crime and Justice Studies today welcomed news that police officer numbers in England and Wales were at their lowest level since 1985.

    The news came in the latest police workforce report, released today by the Home Office, covering the twelve month period to 31 March 2017.

  • Our briefing on regulation cited in parliamentary debate

    Friday, 14 July, 2017

    Last year we published research by Professor Steve Tombs of The Open University on the lack of effective regulation of pollution, food safety and workplace health and safety standards.

    Yesterday in the House of Lords, Baroness Andrews cited the research in a debate on deregulation in public services and health and safety.

  • Scrap 'vanity project' tagging scheme call

    Wednesday, 12 July, 2017

    Our Director, Richard Garside, today called on the Ministry of Justice to scrap its 'vanity project' GPS tagging programme, and focus its energies on more pressing problems, such as the prisons and probation crises.

    His call came in response to a damning National Audit Office report on the new generation electronic monitoring programme.

    Among the report's findings were that the programme was:

  • Comment on new tagging contract for G4S

    Tuesday, 11 July, 2017

    Our director Richard Garside is quoted in a Guardian story this morning over the award of a £25m tagging contract to the controversial private security company, G4S.

    Under the contract, the company will supply equipment for the new generation of GPS tags to monitor the movements of convicted offenders.

    G4S is currently under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office into allegations that it overcharged on a previous monitoring contract.

  • More police won't make us safer

    Wednesday, 05 July, 2017

    Our senior policy associate, Rebecca Roberts, has a piece in today's Independent, which questions the value of increasing police officer numbers.

    In the aftermath of the UK general election and following a series of horrific terrorist attacks, there have been growing calls for better resourcing of the police. With the consensus about austerity starting to crumble Rebecca argues that we should use it as an opportunity to re-think how we organise and fund public services.

  • Conference examines justice developments across the UK

    Thursday, 29 June, 2017

    Since 2010, our UK Justice Policy Review (UKJPR) programme has been assessing criminal justice developments across the UK.

    Earlier this week we published our latest UKJPR report, covering developments between the 2015 General Election and the June 2016 Brexit referendum. Yesterday our latest UKJPR annual conference – Criminal justice since Brexit – heard from 15 speakers from across the UK.

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