Comment
Inaction on coronavirus exposes our deep attachment to prison
Last September a woman on remand in Bronzefield prison gave birth, alone, in her cell. The baby died.
Comment
What goes on in prison does not stay in prison
As the government finalises its plans for easing the lockdown, the lockdown in prisons looks set to intensify.
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
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.'
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
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.
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.
News
Responding to the coronavirus crisis
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...
Comment
Towards a lasting legacy for prisons from the coronavirus crisis
In a few short weeks, we have all had to adjust to a very different reality.
News
Fundamental rethink of prisons policy needed
Our Director, Richard Garside, yesterday called for a fundamental rethink of prisons policy after the release of a damning report from the National Audit Office.
Released today, the report concluded that the prison service was failing to provide a safe, secure and decent prison estate.
He said:
On just about every measure, the current
...
News
Comment on the shooting of a terrorism suspect in Streatham
We need to avoid a slide into a situation where shooting terrorism suspects dead becomes the norm, the Centre's director, Richard Garside, said today.
He was responding to events yesterday afternoon on Streatham High Road in south London, during which twenty-year old Sudesh Amman was shot dead by the police. This followed reports that he had stabbed at least two people and was wearing what...
Comment
More police, more prosecutions, more punishment
To 1945, 1979 and 1997 might be added 2019: a pivotal General Election with the potential to reshape policy and politics in the UK for a generation.