Comment
Prisons need to emerge from the lockdown
A regrettable feature of the current coronarvirus crisis is the government using it as an excuse to expand prison capacity, rather than as a prompt to address our crisis of overincarceration.
Comment
Prisons were places of morbidity and death long before COVID-19 hit
The COVID-19 outbreak has shone a spotlight on prisons as major sites of contagion.
News
Cases of coronavirus in prisons: England and Wales
Coronavirus cases continue to spread among prisoners and prisons in England and Wales.
Comment
Overcoming the cops in our heads
'The virus doesn’t care if you’re an officer or a prisoner. If a prisoner has it today, the officers will have it tomorrow and the officer’s family will have it the day after that.'
Comment
To combat Covid-19 we must heed the lessons of 1990s pandemics
In the months since I first publicly voiced concerns on 23 January 2020 about what the novel coronavirus, Covid-19 might do in the prison setting, one book has barely left my side.
News
Continued inaction is risking lives of prisoners and staff
‘Our government must do more’ said Richard Garside in an interview with The Guardian today.
He continued, ‘If you set out to create an institution with the express intent of concentrating and transmitting Covid-19, it would probably look much like a prison.’
At least 10,000 to 15,000 prisoners need to be released from the prison system, to allow for single cells, but the...
Comment
Punishment is the pandemic
Over recent weeks there have been several calls for people in prison and detention centres to be released, largely framed as a ‘public health’ response and a way of keeping whole communities safe.
Comment
Close prisons and redevelop the land to address racial inequalities laid bare by COVID-19
Last week, the government announced a review into emerging evidence that people from black and minority ethnic backgrounds have been disproportionately affected by the coronavirus outbreak.
News
Coronavirus and the ageing prison population
Age data on prisoners in England and Wales highlight the significant at-risk population.
Comment
Make older prisoners a priority for early release
Another week, and the signs are that the problem of coronavirus crisis in prisons continues to get worse.
News
Coronavirus and the criminal justice system
In June we'll be holding three webinars on the implications of the coronavirus for the criminal justice system, in partnership with The Open University.
Comment
The relentless march of coronavirus across prisons
Following lockdowns and social distancing, some encouraging signs of the beginnings of a slowdown in the spread of COVID-19.