Howard League Blog

The segregation unit in Bedford prison is one of the darkest corners of the criminal justice system. When inspectors visited in October and November 2023, they found two underground landings, one of which was so flooded with sewage after periods of heavy rain that staff kept sandbags to help stem the tide. Cells were damp, with broken furniture and stained toilets, and some smelt of human effluent.  Read more

Last week, the government announced that Cookham Wood, a prison in Kent for boys aged 15 to 18, will close and be repurposed to accommodate adults. The Ministry of Justice said that the prison could be holding men as early as the summer, while options are being reviewed for its longer-term use. The children will be transferred to other sites.    Read more

The Howard League has been extremely busy in the fallout from last week’s distressing inspection report on Wetherby, a prison in West Yorkshire that can hold boys and girls as young as 15. I would like to thank everyone who has signed our petition calling for girls to be moved out of this prison.  Read more

Today’s edition of The Times reports that the Secretary of State for Justice, Alex Chalk, has warned the Prime Minister that the prison system could run out of space this month. For several years now, it has been obvious to any informed observers that the government was heading towards the precipice of a prison overcrowding crisis. …  Read more

More than 15 years since the damning Corston report, the picture for women in prison is worse than ever. Despite the report calling for a radical change in approach, today there are 3,651 women in prison in England and Wales — a 10% increase on the previous year, and there are more than twice as …  Read more

Today the Howard League is sharing a video and open letter from Richard Tucker, who has been appointed by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO) as the Senior Investigator for Operation Deerness, an independent special investigation into abuse that took place at Medomsley detention centre.  Read more

The new year is often seen as an opportunity for new beginnings. Many of us will have made resolutions, looking forward to positive change in 2024. And no public service is in more urgent need of positive change than the prison system; Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) reports from the last four months of 2023 show …  Read more

This week, prisons across the country will be receiving a guide published by the Howard League to help young adults understand their legal rights if they are remanded in custody. The colourful 36-page guide, which was developed in workshops with young adults in prison, is aimed at 18- to 25-year-olds, but it may also be …  Read more