Irish Penal Reform Trust

International News

UK Prison Population Crisis

24th February 2008

Britain's overfilled jails are at 'panic stations' as they lurch from crisis to crisis, the chief inspector of prisons warns in an Observer interview today that will make uncomfortable reading for the government.

"Trial of campaigner highlights deaths in women's prisons" by Steven Morris and Eric Allison, The Guardian

24th September 2007

The growing number of women taking their own lives while in prison will be highlighted this week when a leading campaigner is put on trial for protesting outside a jail.

"Multibillion pound 'shambolic' penal agency to be axed" by Jamie Doward , The Observer

23rd September 2007

The government was accused last night of presiding over a 'shambolic penal policy' after it emerged it is to dismantle its multibillion pound flagship programme to protect the public and cut crime.

"600 custody deaths in 2006, study finds", by David Batty, The Guardian

21st September 2007

There were around 600 deaths in custody in England and Wales last year, a third of them suicides, according to a report published today.

"Prisoners should join the PC brigade" by Erwin James, The Guardian

17th September 2007

Governors should give inmates access to computers in their cells, says Erwin James

"Prisons awash with heroin substitute" by Jamie Doward and Johnny McDevitt, The Observer

16th September 2007

The use of a heroin substitute as a recreational drug is spreading across Britain's prison system 'like wildfire', according to new research. In some prisons as many as 70 per cent of inmates regularly take Subutex illegally, the research found, and many former offenders are returning to civilian life with a taste for the drug.

"Let's unlock the potential of the people we lock up" by Jasper Gerard, The Observer

2nd September 2007

'They can shove their offer up their arse.' So concluded one local union leader addressing striking prison officers, who cheered wildly at this Prescottian flourish. And then it struck me: how surprised should we be that prisoners, entrusted to the care of such people, so manifestly fail to reform while inside?

"Simmering anger that finally boiled over" by Duncan Campbell, The Guardian

30th August 2007

Overcrowded jails, poor pay, Prison Service legal actions against the union, a majority of prisoners with mental and drug problems, and the risks of assault from an increasingly disgruntled prison population. These are just a few of the many grievances held by Britain's prison officers that led to yesterday's sudden strike action.

"Jailhouses rocked", The Guardian

30th August 2007

The work is far from glamorous and brutal misconduct is not unknown among those who carry it out. So when prison officers yesterday embarked on a wildcat strike they were poorly placed to win the sympathy that met the Fire Brigades Union when it took on the government in 2002. Indeed, the Prison Officers Association (POA) received a very hostile reaction from several quarters, starting with the high court, which did not take long to rule its action illegal.

"More prisons are not the answer to punishing criminals, says poll" by Julian Glover, The Guardian

28th August 2007

A Guardian/ICM poll published today overturns the assumption that the public think tough prison sentences are the best way to tackle crime. It shows that a majority of voters think the government should scrap its prison building programme and find other ways to punish criminals.

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