Comment
Pressured times call for emergency measures in Scotland's prisons
The months of March and April felt like an eternity as the world was changed by COVID-19, and justice authorities grappled with how to deal with the issues in prisons.
News
Prisons and the COVID-19 crisis webinar
Last weekend, our Director Richard Garside participated in an online panel discussion on prisons during the current pandemic.
Chaired by John Rees, other panellists were criminologist and former prison monitor, Faith Spear and Steve Gillan, General Secretary of the Prison Officers' Association.
Watch the full session here.
News
Cases of coronavirus in prisons: England and Wales
Coronavirus cases continue to spread among prisoners and prisons in England and Wales.
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
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.
Comment
Tracking European jurisdictions’ preparedness, prevention and control of COVID-19 in prisons
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.
Comment
Coronavirus: Early release of prisoners
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.
Comment
Coronavirus: empty the prisons, redevelop the land for the benefit of local communities
Today we heard the news of the first prisoner to die after testing positive for coronavirus. It was sadly not unexpected.
Comment
The worst place in the world
Before the Strangeways protests, children were incarcerated with adults.
Comment
Prison officer violence: The crisis of visibility
In recent times there have been increasing calls for zero tolerance of physical violence in prisons in the UK.
Project
Short prison sentencing
This project aims to identify the options, impacts and issues for impactful sentencing reform intended to reduce the use of short prison sentences.
There has been a lot of recent interest in this policy area. Last year, Scotland extended its presumption against short prison sentences. In England and Wales, plans to restrict sentencers' access to short term imprisonment were mooted but failed to progress. The case for reform has been made on...
News
Our Director in Probation Quarterly
Read Richard Garside on accidental liberalism and criminal justice trends
The latest edition of Probation Quarterly features a piece by our Director, Richard Garside, on criminal justice trends in retrospect and their signification of a flawed, accidental and incomplete liberalism.
Tackling fluctuating police numbers, the dangerous condition of...