Urgent Notification issued for HMP Wandsworth
👉7 suicides in the last year
👉drugs rife
👉security not good enough despite last year’s escape
👉most prisoners locked up for 22 hours a day, often with no time outdoors

Well done to HMP Cardiff - effective leadership and a committed, capable staff team at this inner-city, local prison.

I’m proud to be handing over as Chair of the Employment Advisory Board network to Rosie Brown. When I started 4 years ago to help prison leavers find work, only 14% had a job after six months of release. We are now at over 30%, and 92 prisons have an EAB in place!

Really pleased to see some of the successes of the Unlocked Graduates leadership programme reported here. Prison is tough, but that’s why we need brilliant people coming to work and lead here. The impact that the best frontline staff can and do have on landings is actually incredible

Loved dong this podcast with PRA really interesting talking about our justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprisons/wp-… and about prison culture more generally.

Listen to Charlie Taylor tell PRA about how some of the best prisons see their prisoners as a valuable resource in making their prison safer and better able to support rehabilitation as they discuss our recent report on 'Improving behaviour in prisons'.

thetimes.co.uk/article/crime-…
Rachel Sylvester on the state of our prisons at the start of the year-long Crime and Justice Commission

Excellent article in The Times and The Sunday Times on the growing prison population as the newspaper kicks off its Crime and Justice Commission Rachel Sylvester thetimes.co.uk/article/prison…

The segregation unit in Bedford prison is one of the darkest corners of the criminal justice system.

Now, at long last, an end to this grim scandal appears to be in sight – after pressure from the Howard League.

More here: howardleague.org/blog/the-segre… #LiftTheLidOnPrisons

Existing civil servants wishing to apply to join us on secondment can apply here: justicejobs.tal.net/vx/appcentre-2…

External candidates, or civil servants wishing to join us on a permanent basis can apply here: justicejobs.tal.net/vx/appcentre-1…

Anyone interested in behaviour and culture, regardless of the institution type, should have a look at this HMI Prisons report into prisons that have built cultures that encourage good behaviour justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprisons/wp-…

Opportunity to join our outstanding team at HMI Prisons. You need to be able to: get into the detail, weigh up evidence and make judgements while working at pace, give honest feedback, write well, travel the country, often working long hours away from home - in a fascinating job

Today is🌍World Art Day 2024🎨and we want to highlight the positive impact art can have in prisons #WorldArtDay .

Read more below⬇️

'At a time when the picture in prisons is especially bleak, it is good to remember that some truly impressive work is done in the most difficult of circumstances.'

Read our response to HMI Prisons thematic review on behaviour: howardleague.org/news/hope-and-…

How do prisons create cultures that encourage prisoners to make better use of their time in custody?

Our new thematic review 'Improving behaviour in prisons' explores this.

Read the report here: justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprisons/ins…

And see our media release: justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprisons/med…

See my latest blog on the effect of illegal drugs in prison.

Responding to the announcement that HMYOI Cookham Wood will be closed and repurposed as an adult establishment, Charlie Taylor said:

On The News Agents yesterday with Jon Sopel and emily m talking about HMP Hindley where more than 50% of random drug tests on prisoners were positive. Drugs=Debt=Violence
The challenge is not just reduce supply, but to reduce demand for drugs with meaningful, purposeful activity.

'The government had to act. Prisons were becoming too full'.

Chief inspector of prisons, Charlie Taylor, tells Mark Austin why the govt has decided to release some offenders two months early from prison.

trib.al/9LxeYQD

📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233, YouTube

Yesterday we published a report which found vulnerable girls restrained and stripped by teams of adult men.

We are absolutely clear staff were acting to save the girl's life or prevent serious harm, and they should never have been put in a position where this was necessary.