The Sentencing Council’s tone-deaf response to ‘two-tier justice’ criticism
The Sentencing Council – the organisation that advises judges on how long convicted criminals should be locked up for –…
Could ethnic minority criminals soon find it easier to avoid jail?
Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, has accused his Labour counterpart Shabana Mahmood of not believing in ‘equality under the…
Labour has until Easter to stop prisons running out of space
There are just over a thousand men’s prison places left in the UK out of a total of 88,618 total.…
The truth about Britain’s overcrowded prisons
Former justice secretary David Gauke’s Independent Sentencing Review (ISR), running since October, was not due to report until the spring.…
How Prevent failed David Amess
In October 2021, Ali Harbi Ali assassinated David Amess, the MP for Southend West. The aftermath of this killing was…
Why wasn’t the Southport killer stopped?
Now that the Southport killer Axel Rudakubana has been sentenced for his horrific crimes, we can try to understand how…
Why was this convicted murderer released to kill again?
The details of the terrible murder of Sarah Mayhew are almost too appalling to bear, but one question stands out…
Are we missing the point about the ‘Amazon killer’ Axel Rudakubana?
‘The Amazon Killer’, screams the Sun front page today. ‘Total disgrace he was able to buy knife on Amazon,’ says…
Open prisons are the answer to our jail crisis
Britain should move thousands of inmates into low-security open prisons, according to David Gauke, the former Tory justice secretary, who…
How can we stop football academy rejects ending up in prison?
‘The first team at Wormwood Scrubs is said to be better than QPR’s’. That line from Toby Young’s article from…
Why are the police allowing trans officers to strip-search women?
What is the British Transport Police playing at? Biologically male officers identifying as female will be allowed to intimately search women so long…
How corrupt are Britain’s prisons?
Two recently-released prisoners have lifted the lid on corruption and sexual harassment in Britain’s prisons. Beatrice Auty, who was imprisoned…
It’s obvious why crime is up in Britain
Yesterday, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) published its annual report on crime in England and Wales. This combines data on crimes…
More early releases won’t solve the prison crisis
September’s tranche of early releases did not go as smoothly as the government might have hoped. Footage of delighted prisoners…
Too many people are being recalled to prison
One of the new government’s first decisions was to announce that most prisoners would be released 40 per cent of…
Why are high-risk offenders set to be released early?
High-risk offenders could reportedly be released early from secure government-approved hostels. Shortly before before the election in July, the Ministry…
What our prisons get wrong
‘Purposeful activity’ is a phrase often heard in discussions about our prisons. It describes work, training, therapeutic courses and other…
Britain could learn from Texan prisons
Before I was sentenced to prison I imagined it as a place of discipline, where we who had broken society’s…
Why aren’t some released prisoners being tagged?
As hundreds of prisoners are released early on to the streets of Britain, it’s vital that the authorities keep track…
Should prisoners jump the queue for housing?
With the mass releases from prison underway, politicians have turned their attention to what happens after inmates leave jail. On…
Probation officers won’t be able to cope with 5,500 prisoner releases
Today the government is releasing an estimated 1,700 prisoners early, under the scheme (SDS40) in which most inmates will only…
Starmer can’t keep blaming the Tories for the prison crisis
Britain’s prisons are full: over the August Bank Holiday weekend, there were fewer than 100 men’s prison places remaining. The…
The toxicity of two-tier justice
One of the worst things about prison is the rules. Before I was sentenced I’d imagined jail as a rigid,…
Why do prison staff keep having sex with inmates?
As I read last week’s Steerpike exclusive on the thorny topic of ‘inappropriate relationships’ between prison officers and prisoners, my…
The courts will struggle to bring the rioters to justice
Violent conflict, not traditionally a feature of life in Britain, arrived with brutal force this weekend. Angry mobs targeted mosques…
