Frances Crook’s blog

The Conservative Party manifesto broadly continues the direction the government has been taking over the past couple of years under Michael Gove and Liz Truss. The big spending commitment is the £1billion building programme already being put in place to expand the system, obviously something we oppose. The last thing we need is more prisons. Whilst the …  Read more

I am going to review each of the main party manifestos, starting with the Liberal Democrats. I welcome the fact the party manifesto clearly states that there are too many people in prison. This is an important and principled statement. However, there is no indication of how the party would really address and solve the problem. …  Read more

Our lawyers speak to children and young people in prison, as well as their loved ones and professionals who work with them every day. More and more often, what we are told causes us concern that they have either been harmed or are at risk of being seriously harmed. This can include self-harm, harm by another …  Read more

The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman has published a report into the death of Daniel Adewole, a 16-year-old boy who died at Cookham Wood prison in July 2015. The report raised concerns about the procedures and staff responses at the prison, which only holds children. These replicated systems applied in adult prisons – for example, "a paediatric …  Read more

More prisons are due to ban smoking over the summer. It is difficult to argue that anyone should continue smoking as we all know that it kills, and kills painfully and prematurely. However, smoking tobacco is a highly addictive habit that is incredibly difficult to kick and people need a great deal of help to stop …  Read more

Yesterday I wrote about our visit to Scotland. We went to explore three particular issues: Scotland’s plan to reform (and reduce) women’s imprisonment, the punishment system that does not include imposing additional days, and the new structure for independent monitors of prisons. Plans for women are, on the face of it, offering serious reform. On 23 April …  Read more

There is rarely much to applaud in the criminal justice system, so it was exhilarating to spend two days in Scotland hearing about good practice and principled leadership. We met with lots of key people and visited Edinburgh prison. Colin McConnell, CEO of the Scottish Prison Service, told us he saw it as a ‘citizen recovery service’. …  Read more

I am not pleased about the general election as it will be a bad thing for the justice system. Goodness knows, things could hardly get worse, but the election means that nothing will happen for weeks and then a new justice secretary will want to have a think. This means we will be in a state …  Read more