A participant at one of our recent events remarked that it left him feeling “the most hopeful I have felt in some time”.
There is much that is difficult about the current state of the justice system; about the stuckness of current criminal justice policy-making; about the narrow nature of the political debate. It is easy to end up feeling daunted and demoralised.
At the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, we aim to be realistic about the very real challenges of, and barriers to, meaningful reform. We also try to lean into those challenges, holding open a space for hopeful conversations, critical dialogue, and high-quality thinking and research on what genuine change might look like, and how it might be achieved.
This might mean doggedly pursuing specific issues: joint enterprise reform, for instance. It might also mean posing the bigger questions, such as at our recent event on the intersections of race and gender in prisons and the wider justice system.
We do not have an exclusive focus on women and the criminal justice system, but the cause of a fair deal for criminalised women, and those vulnerable to criminalisation, has been an ongoing priority for us.
We launched our latest programme – Breaking Out of the Justice Loop – earlier this week. Ahead of the 20th anniversary of the Corston Report, in March 2027, we will be working in partnership with the National Women’s Justice Coalition (NWJC), exploring how investment, joined-up delivery and effective prevention might help to nudge the women’s justice system out of the cycle of almost perpetual crisis.
This new initiative builds on a collaboration we started with NWJC, Liz Hogarth OBE and Naomi Delap, CEO of Birth Companions, last year.
It is in good part thanks to Liz, Naomi and the NWJC’s Abbi Ayers that this programme is possible. I am very grateful to all three of them, and to the JABBS Foundation for Women and Girls for giving us the start-up funding to get the Breaking out of the Justice Loop programme off the ground.
Richard Garside
Director
New funding announced to help shape the future of women's justice
Looking ahead to the 20th anniversary of the Corston Report, we're pleased to announce that the Centre has secured £60,000 from the JABBS Foundation for Women and Girls to support the next phase of our Breaking out of the Justice Loop programme.
Over the coming year, we'll work with the National Women's Justice Coalition, alongside Liz Hogarth OBE and Naomi Delap, to explore how policy can better respond to the needs of women and girls in or at risk of the justice system. Through events, reports and analysis, the programme will bring together expertise from policy, practice, research and lived experience to help inform the next chapter of women's justice reform.
We'll be sharing more about the programme, including upcoming events and publications, over the coming months. In the meantime, you can read the full announcement on our website.
Coming up: our autumn events programme
We’ll be publishing our full autumn events programme shortly, with further details on upcoming activity across the Centre.
In the meantime, we’re pleased to share a few dates already confirmed. On 22 September, we’ll be hosting a workshop on domestic abuse in partnership with the University of Birmingham, followed by a workshop on youth violence on 20 October, also with the University of Birmingham.
Earlier in the season, on 30 September, we’ll also be holding a PACE event with the Criminal Law Review.
Full details and registration information will follow soon.
Winners announced: 2026 Mike Guilfoyle Essay Prize
What needs to change for probation to be more effective? That was the question at the heart of this year's Mike Guilfoyle Essay Prize, co-hosted by the Centre and Napo.
We're delighted to congratulate Emily Beetham, whose winning essay argues that probation's greatest strength lies in relationships: making the case for manageable caseloads, trauma-informed practice, and giving practitioners the time and flexibility to support lasting rehabilitation alongside public protection.
Emily was joined by highly commended entrant Tombae Etheridge and commended entrants Marion Stevenson and Liam Zamudio. Their essays, along with Emily's winning entry, reflect the depth of thought and commitment that continues to exist across probation.
You can read the winning essay and find out more about this year's prize on our website.
New footage: All Talk, No Action? expert panel on racism in criminal justice
Despite decades of reform and repeated commitments to change, racism continues to shape outcomes across the criminal justice system. Last month we hosted All Talk, No Action?, an expert panel exploring why progress has proved so elusive.
Bringing together criminologists, researchers and advocates, the discussion asked why racism remains marginalised in prison research and policy debates, and what it would take for race to be meaningfully addressed rather than simply acknowledged.
On the panel were Dr Jason Warr, Khatuna Tsintsadze and Dr Angela Charles, with the session chaired by Richard Garside.
Speakers reflected on the structural and cultural forces that continue to reproduce racial inequality in custody, including the experiences of Black women in prison. Twenty-five years on from the murder of Zahid Mubarek, the discussion returned to a central question: why has so little changed?
The panel also considered what meaningful change would look like in practice, and the barriers that continue to block progress, even where there is agreement on the need for reform.
Footage from the event is now available on our website. You can watch the full recording and highlights.
Inaugural BJC Annual Lecture with Professor Robert Sampson
Earlier this month we hosted the inaugural Annual Lecture of the British Journal of Criminology at Oxford University Press.
We were delighted to welcome Professor Robert Sampson of Harvard University, who delivered a lecture drawing on themes from his latest book, Marked by Time: Confronting the Challenge of Social Change in Crime and Punishment.
The talk explored how long-term social processes shape patterns of crime, justice and inequality, offering a clear-eyed reflection on the relationship between social change and criminal justice.
Thank you to everyone who joined us for a well-attended and engaging discussion.
Footage from the lecture will be available shortly.
Comment piece: From snout to spice: how British prisons lost control
In this comment piece for the Centre, John Podmore traces how the prison drug economy has shifted from tobacco to synthetic cannabinoids, and what that reveals about control inside modern prisons.
He reflects on how overcrowding, longer sentences, staff shortages and organised crime networks have made many prisons harder to manage than at any point in recent decades.
The piece highlights the limits of enforcement-led responses and performance-driven drug testing regimes, including the unintended consequences they can produce.
It also points to the conditions that continue to drive demand, boredom, isolation and lack of purposeful activity, still present across much of the prison estate.
The article raises wider questions about what prisons are becoming, and whether they are now defined more by instability than rehabilitation.
Read the full piece here.
Comment piece: First thoughts on the Women’s Justice Board Report and Women’s Diversion Fund
In this comment piece for the Centre, Naomi Delap and Liz Hogarth reflect on the Women’s Justice Board (WJB) Report and the government’s Women’s Diversion Fund.
They welcome the WJB Report as an important opportunity to strengthen responses to women in the criminal justice system and to build on the legacy of the Corston Report. However, they suggest its ambitions remain shaped by existing system constraints rather than the more fundamental reform originally envisaged.
They also consider the implications of the Women’s Diversion Fund, including questions about its focus and what this means for the balance between prevention and diversion in practice.
More broadly, they highlight the importance of governance, accountability and funding in determining whether reform efforts can be fully realised.
Read the full article here.
New edition of Prison Service Journal
The May 2026 edition of the Prison Service Journal (Issue 284) is now available online.
It features contributions from Daria Przybylska, Alex Fishwick, Abigail Stark, Laura Kelly-Corless and Dan McCulloch, Jennifer Stickney, Emma Holmes and Chris Gunderson, Darren Woodward, and Kirsty Teague, Nicholas Blagden and Lynn Saunders.
This special issue explores transitions into, within, and out of imprisonment, examining how movement through custody and into the community shapes identity, rehabilitation and experience. Drawing on research, practice and lived experience, the edition considers both the policy frameworks that structure these transitions and what they feel like in practice.
You can access the full edition here.
Prison Service Journal archive
We are in the process of digitising and uploading the entire back catalogue of Prison Service Journal, from the first edition in 1960. A complete run from 1960 to 1995 is currently available, alongside a complete run from July 2010 to the present day.
This month, the editors have highlighted articles from editions 34, 35 and 36.
Edition 34
The Neglected Virtue by Hugh Searle argues that managerialism, cost-cutting, and bureaucracy had led to a decline in "character" and "care" within prison management. This thought-provoking piece is a must-read for anyone interested in the ethical dimensions of prison management and the impact of modern administrative practices on the core values of the prison service.
Edition 35
This special edition focused on minorities. In Religious Minorities in Prison: Tolerated? Accepted?, Derek Russell examines how prisons respond to growing religious diversity. While freedom of religion is formally protected, he argues that minorities are often merely tolerated rather than genuinely accepted. Overcrowding, limited facilities, staff attitudes, and lack of understanding can hinder proper religious observance. Religious identity may become especially important to prisoners as a source of support, culture, and self-worth. Russell stresses shared responsibility among chaplains, staff, and institutions to respect religious rights, provide practical accommodation, and promote understanding through information and training, rather than relying on indifference or minimal compliance.
Edition 36
M.F.G. Selby, who was Governor of HMP Brixton, uses a vivid, historically rooted narrative to show how many of the tensions, contradictions and hardships experienced in Victorian prisons still echoed in 1979, highlighting enduring issues of overcrowding, harsh regimes, staff–prisoner dynamics, and the gap between official ideals and lived reality. Through these historical parallels, he suggests that past voices of dissatisfaction remain relevant—and that modern inquiries risk repeating old patterns unless the system confronts these problems more openly and effectively
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