Howard League 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.  Read more

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.  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.  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.  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.  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.  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.  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.  Read more