Justice and Fairness in Prisons
Our blog on justice and fairness in prisons
Updates, reflections and examples of good practice.
This blog provides a deeper insight into the issues uncovered in our programme on justice and fairness in prisons. It includes examples of fairness and unfairness in prisons and records the experience of people in prison as well as analysis by researchers.
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Autism and punishment in prison
Last autumn, a young Black autistic man called our advice line: a prison officer swore at him and when he reacted with a similar insult, he was restrained by multiple officers. To add insult to injury, he was then issued with a disciplinary charge for talking back to the officer who had verbally abused him. Read more
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Learning lessons for the future
After publishing our latest briefing on the use of additional days of imprisonment, we wrote to the Secretary of State for Justice to send him the publication and request his views. Read more
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It should not require judicial review to overturn unfair findings of guilt in prison
Our latest briefing on justice and fairness in prisons highlighted the continuing problems created by the adjudication process, the shadow court system that operates inside prisons when people are accused of breaking prison rules. Read more
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The pandemic offers the chance to reset policy in prison discipline
Our blog on justice and fairness in prisons Updates, reflections and examples of good practice. This blog provides a deeper insight into the issues uncovered in our programme on justice and fairness in prisons. It includes examples of fairness and unfairness in prisons and records the experience of people in prison as well as analysis […] Read more
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Justice and fairness and race
News headlines over the last few weeks in both the United States and the United Kingdom, and indeed elsewhere, have been dominated by protests organised by the movement Black Lives Matters, following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. In that city, the local council has voted to dismantle the existing police department, as protestors make the call to ‘defund the police’. Read more
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Prison punishment: the procedural unfairness of prison adjudications
On the same day as the adjudication discussed in the previous Justice and Fairness blog post, we attended a second adjudication at the same prison. The second adjudication was very clearly unfair, in terms of the charge that was brought and the process itself. Read more
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Prison punishment: the everyday unfairness of prison adjudications
The programme on justice and fairness will look at everyday injustice as well as procedural justice in prisons. Prison regimes are rife with everyday injustices: inconsistent processes, arbitrary decisions, bureaucratic delays, ignored complaints, poor living conditions and the lack of privacy afforded by a shared cell. Read more
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Justice and fairness during COVID-19
In the short time this blog has been running, we've discussed the issues of justice and fairness during the pandemic on several occasions, most notably here. Read more
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Everyone matters equally: fair access to healthcare in prison during a pandemic
The government’s guide to pandemic flu planning, last updated in 2017, includes a Framework that looks at the ethical aspects of decisions made during a pandemic Read more
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Protecting the rights of those who remain in prison during a pandemic
The last Justice and Fairness blogpost discussed how, in the middle of a pandemic, the rights of people in prison are more important than ever. Last week’s post focussed on the need to release people from prison in order to relieve pressure on the system. Read more
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