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Punishment in prisons

The report looks at how jails in England and Wales operate disciplinary hearings called adjudications, where allegations of rule-breaking are tried.

  • ISBN: 978-1-905994-99-1

  • Published: 2015

  • Pages: 6

  • Publisher: The Howard League for Penal Reform

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Punishment in prisons

Almost 160,000 days – or 438 years – of additional imprisonment were imposed on prisoners found to have broken prison rules in 2014. The number of extra days imposed on children almost doubled in two years – from 1,383 in 2012 to 2,683 in 2014 – even though the number of children in prison almost halved.

The rise in the number of adjudications in prison has come at a time when prisons across England and Wales are struggling to overcome problems caused by a growing prisoner population, chronic overcrowding and cuts of almost 40 per cent to frontline staffing.

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