Howard League Blog
Informal comment from our Chief Executive, Andrea Coomber KC (Hon.), and other contributors.
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Words and labels, and why they matter
I tweeted this morning about a sports report on BBC Radio 4's Today programme. The reporter talked repeatedly of the ‘girls’ in the Great Britain – yes, I know the country is the UK, but for some reason we get that wrong, too – curling team. I wondered if perhaps the team comprised children. It seems to happen in sport a lot. Men are called men, women are called girls. Read more
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How the Howard League legal team battles hard to get young prisoners released on time
The Times front page story today says that prisoners who are eligible for supervised release will be given the opportunity in greater numbers. This is to be welcomed. The Howard League legal team has battled hard to get young prisoners released on time and with support – it has been an uphill fight. Read more
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Using participation and legal work to help a child get a home on release from prison
We have been running sessions with children in custody on the concept of what ‘home’ means. After all, children in prisons are living there. And the Howard League legal team has worked with many hundreds of young people to help get them a home on release. Read more
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Whitewash the dirty prison walls, but only system change will solve the problems in the long run
I am running out of fingers on which to count the secretaries of state as they come and go. Read more
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Enshrining children’s rights in policy and practice
The Howard League is working in partnership with Defence for Children International (DCI) Belgium, DCI Italy and the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, which is based in Poland. This international project is funded by the EU and aims to promote children’s rights by improving detention conditions for children and enhancing the legal protections for children deprived of their liberty. Read more
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Christmas in a children’s prison
I visited a prison holding 160 teenage boys aged 15 to 17 over the Christmas holidays. It was a depressing day. An inspection report, which I have not seen but fully expect will be critical, is due to be published soon, so I am not going to comment on the overall treatment of the children at this stage. I just want to say something about Christmas. Read more
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Another weekend, another prison disturbance
There was yet another prison disturbance at the weekend. Men in Swaleside prison, a Kent jail intended to be a training establishment, took over a wing for a short time on Sunday and the prison riot squad was called in to sort it out. Read more
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Thoughts on the Metropolitan Police Commissioner’s address to the Howard League AGM
The Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Cressida Dick, was invited to give a lecture at the Howard League’s most important event of the year, our AGM. She used the opportunity to call for more young children, in effect more black boys, to be sent to prison and for longer. Read more
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With food prices rising, should we prepare for civil dissent?
We held a lively meeting with trustees to review the charity’s strategy this week. We were looking at the work of the Howard League and how we should focus our (quite meagre) resources in future. One of our trustees raised an alarming prospect that could derail all our, and the government’s, best-laid plans. Read more
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IPP prisoners are tangled within a Kafka novel
I visited a local prison a couple of weeks ago, and as I always do, I chatted to people I met along the way. One conversation stuck with me and the man has since written to me to tell me his story. Read more
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