Over the last few days we’ve finalised and sent out a survey to European partner organisations as part of our brand new project tracking official responses to COVID-19 in European prisons.
The announcement of early releases from prisons in England and Wales is a welcome sign that the seriousness of the COVID-19 infection risk is being acknowledged, though how far, and how thoroughly, is still open to question.
In our latest eBulletin, our Director Richard Garside summarises the work we are doing in response to the growing coronavirus crisis in our prisons.
"With coronavirus continuing to dominate both the headlines and our collective social experience," he writes, "the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies has been focusing on the implications for the justice system in general, and the prison system in particular.
He continues:...
In the last few days, the Ministry of Justice has announced the temporary release of women who are pregnant or in mother and baby units.
The majority of those infected with coronavirus are likely to experience mild symptoms and make a speedy recovery.
Our Director, Richard Garside, is signatory of the mass call to immediately reduce the number of people in detention settings.
The letter, coordinated by Inquest and Women in Prison, and signed by over 100 signatories, asks the government to prioritise the health and wellbeing of prisoners during this public health crisis.
The call concluded with:
A timely, effectively managed and
...
In a new comment piece, our director Richard Garside sets out some of the ways we plan to respond to the growing coronavirus crisis in prisons.
'If an institution was to be invented with the express intention of maximising the spread of coronavirus, and of concentrating it among those most likely to be vulnerable to it', Richard writes, 'that institution would probably look much like a prison.'
Richard's article covers some of...
In a few short weeks, we have all had to adjust to a very different reality.
Today we heard the news of the first prisoner to die after testing positive for coronavirus. It was sadly not unexpected.
