Howard League Blog
Informal comment from our Chief Executive, Andrea Coomber KC (Hon.), and other contributors.
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An opportunity to celebrate hard work and achievements
As a former recipient of a Howard League for Penal Reform Community Award, as both a runner-up and a winner, I was delighted to be asked to share my reflections on the last few months and of the awards themselves. Read more
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Change to the use of force in prisons is desperately needed
The consequences of state authorised use of force by officers in a coercive environment can be grave and vast. It led to the death of two children, Gareth Myatt and Adam Rickwood, in 2004. Read more
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Winning a Community Award brought our service national recognition
I feel privileged to be asked for a second year to be a member of the Howard League Community Awards judging panel. This gives me the perfect opportunity to see some of the fantastic work from different projects around the country and to think about how we can best share all the innovation with other services nationally. Read more
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Reducing the number of children remanded to custody – call for experiences
Throughout the pandemic, my legal team has worked hard to ensure that we could continue providing our legal service for children in custody. Our service was particularly important as the Ministry of Justice has not released a single child under the early release Covid-19 scheme. But my lawyers have been doubling their efforts to get … Read more
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Reasons to be cheerful?
Guest blog by Superintendent Stan Gilmour, Head of the Thames Valley Violence Reduction Unit, Thames Valley Police, He also sits as a judge on the Howard League Community Awards. Read more
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Employed prisoners can be furloughed
The Howard League has fought for many years to promote the notion of real work in prisons and to support prisoners to get jobs from open conditions and on release. Read more
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The prison population is falling but there is still more work to do
Prisons have been pretty grim places in the last couple of months. The young people who have managed to phone through to the Howard League legal advice line tell us they are locked up almost all day and we know that this is the same for adults. Read more
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Community Awards and the conception of the Howard League’s Commission on Crime and Problem Gambling
A guest blog by Neil Platt explaining how winning a Community Award was the starting-point for the conception of the Howard League’s ground-breaking Commission on Crime and Problem Gambling. Read more
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Howard League Community Awards 2020
Great news! The Howard League has decided to press ahead with its Community Awards in 2020. Read more
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Working hard to help children and young adults in prison
In the past few weeks our legal team has been working hard to help children and young adults in prison. At a time when young people are being locked in their cells almost all day, we are working to get them safely released wherever possible. Read more
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