Prisons
Letters: Prisons are not doing enough to tackle their drug problems
Locked in Sir: Most prisons are awash with illegal drugs, much of which gets in via drones dropping off packages…
How mandarins sabotaged a rare prison success story
Britain’s prisons are in crisis. So, naturally, Whitehall has managed to snuff out one of the few organisations that might…
The prison early release scheme is already a disaster
Four days after he was released from HMP Wandsworth, Michael Bogle was back inside. The 38-year-old had served 11 of…
Lawlessness is not inevitable
John Major’s time in government was fraught but, between the Maastricht wrangles, ‘Back to Basics’ and the cones hotline, one…
Letters: Prisons are for punishment
Little cheer Sir: I found the headline on Tim Shipman’s excellent article (‘Tories’ reasons to be cheerful’, 10 October) more…
A radical solution to the prisons crisis
This Halloween, punters at a silent disco in Shepton Mallet’s former prison will be dancing on the graves of executed…
The terror of Russian prisons
The competition must be pretty stiff for ‘World’s worst airport to be caught with drugs in your baggage’: Bogota? Miami?…
Where exactly is the Middle East?
Less near Where exactly is the Middle East? – The term was first popularised in an article by Alfred Thayer…
The civil service is killing restorative justice
Failing institutions don’t like challenge, let alone being shown up. Few institutions are failing more tragically than our prisons –…
The luxury of French prisons
Nicolas Sarkozy, former president of the French Republic, has been convicted and sentenced to five years for a ‘criminal conspiracy…
Letters: How lads’ mags spawned OnlyFans
Bad lads Sir: The articles on Britain’s relationship with porn were fascinating and frustrating in equal measure. Fascinating in that…
Why is the MoJ making life so hard for prison charities?
For 15 years The Clink charity has run commercial restaurants in prisons, training inmates to cook and teaching them front-of-house…
Can anything solve Britain’s prisons crisis?
While we were inspecting HMP Elmley on the Isle of Sheppey, a commotion broke out on one of the wings.…
Labour should be wary of scrapping short prison sentences
What is the point of a short prison sentence? David Gauke will no doubt think carefully about that question now…
What has become of the Wellcome Collection?
In 2022 the Wellcome Collection caused a stir by closing its Medicine Man exhibition on the grounds that it was…
Portrait of the week: prisoners are freed, Ted Baker closes and train drivers announce strikes
Home Emergency measures, known as Operation Early Dawn, were brought in to ease prison overcrowding. Defendants would be summoned to…
Let prisoners phone home
‘A society is measured by the treatment of its prisoners,’ Winston Churchill said. Last year, in England and Wales, every…
Can Labour solve our prisons crisis?
There is no doubt that the new government (and in particular the prisons minister, James Timpson) is faced with a…
The toxic prison attitude that can cost inmates their lives
David Morgan, a 35 year-old man, told staff he’d taken an overdose. A nurse decided the man seemed drunk and…
Cell division
The Angel of Prisons dramatises the life of the penal reformer Elizabeth Fry, who lived near Canning Town. She married…
Our prisons are woefully unprepared for Ali Harbi Ali
The Islamist terrorist Ali Harbi Ali will spend the rest of his life behind bars for the murder of Sir…
The case for isolating terrorists in prison is stronger than ever
Watching last night’s ITV report from inside two of Britain’s highest security jails was an odd experience for me. The…
