Howard League Blog

I recently visited four residential children’s homes in a city in the Midlands. I am obviously being cautious and not identifying either the place, the company running the homes, and, most importantly, the children.  Read more

The last big change put in place by Chris Grayling still standing is the break up of the 100 year old successful probation service. The impact on women has been catastrophic and something needs to be done urgently to change the system to protect women.  Read more

The Howard League has long argued that justice is not served by conferring the awesome power to incarcerate a citizen on magistrates. As well as the moral argument, the practical implications of short prison sentences are devastating on the individual, counter-productive and costly to the public. Last week I had a very interesting meeting with David …  Read more

Surprisingly, rather lost in today’s inspection report of Stafford prison is the finding that men convicted of sex offences are being released on the streets, homeless, with no support or supervision. The report reveals that 126 men – including more than 100 assessed as presenting a high risk of serious harm to others – were released …  Read more

In 2013 the Howard League for Penal Reform and the Prisoners Advice Service launched a legal challenge to the government’s decision to cut legal aid for prisoners. The case will be heard by the Court of Appeal in January 2017. During the last year, the Lord Chancellor has made a series of small concessions in response to …  Read more

Michael Gove’s plans include six ‘reform’ prisons and this concept has generated more heat than light. Some commentators have expressed concern that it is the first step toward either privatisation or academisation. I don’t think this is the case. Bear with me while I do a quick jog through the various structures developed for public services over …  Read more

Michael Gove gave an interesting speech to prison governors last week, ahead of the Queen’s Speech which is expected to focus on prison reform. He focused on the moral mission of prisons to change lives and spoke in positive terms about the vision he has for prison leaders to rehabilitate people in prison. Whilst I welcome …  Read more

This is the third inspection report in the space of a year following the disastrous inspection last spring and the follow-up that found some improvements.  Read more