Howard League Blog
Informal comments from the charity
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Long Covid in prison
We are all aware that contracting Covid can have devastating effects and I know two people who have been suffering from ‘long Covid’ that has laid them out for almost a year. Health services are only just beginning to investigate the many different symptoms and what treatments might be useful. Read more
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Add your voice to the Stop Building Women’s Prisons campaign
The response to our call for action to put a stop to building more women’s prisons has been overwhelming – thank you everyone. More than 100 MPs have been emailed and many of them by several constituents. Read more
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Stop building women’s prisons
The government has announced that it is to increase the number of prison cells for women by 500. This is despite the number of women in prison falling and there now being 591 fewer women in prison than at this time last year. Read more
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The new lockdown announcement will bring desolation to prisons
The last ten months have been extremely difficult for all of us, and my heart goes out to the families who have lost a loved one. It has, of course, been particularly awful for prisoners and challenging for prison staff. Read more
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A decade of success that has benefitted hundreds of thousands of children
One of the Howard League successes I am most proud of is the work with police to reduce child arrests. When a decade ago we discovered that police were carrying out a third of a million child arrests a year, it was so shocking that we decided to act. Read more
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Prison for their ‘own protection’ has no place in a modern justice system
The All Party Parliamentary Group on Women in the Penal System, supported by the Howard League, is calling on the government to abolish an outdated law that gives courts the extraordinary power to send people to prison for their ‘own protection’. Read more
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Custody Time Limits
The court system is creaking with delays that have been exacerbated by Covid. I am hearing of cases delayed by months, or even years. Read more
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Strengthening the independent scrutiny bodies
A consultation is closing with Ministry of Justice stakeholders on strengthening the independent scrutiny bodies through legislation. The consultation itself took the form of an online questionnaire, but I thought it would be good to outline the Howard League’s response on my blog. Read more
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Remembering deaths in custody
I have been going through my records of deaths in custody. I have kept a careful record of every single person who has died in prison in England and Wales since 1988. Read more
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Questions from members
Our members and regular supporters are the very beating heart of the charity. We rely on them for information about what’s happening across the country and for their activity in holding local decision makers to account. Read more
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