Analysis: The UK Has Its Own Mass Incarceration Crisis
by Ell Folan
The UK now spends £5bn a year on prisons, more than any other European country besides Russia, writes Ell Folan.
Tag: prisons
Report: Prisoners Are Stuck in Cells Like ‘Ovens’ in the Summer
by Sophie K Rosa
As temperatures rise, campaigners are calling for action over sweltering conditions in the UK's antiquated jails.
Opinion: A Cash Injection Won’t Fix Our Broken Legal System
by Michael Etienne
Criminal barristers deserve better pay, writes Michael Etienne. But paying barristers better won't deliver a justice system that’s actually just.
NovaraFM: Abolishing Prisons Is Only the Start
How can we build a world that has no need of policing? Rivkah Brown finds out with scholar-activist Ruth Wilson Gilmore.
Report: How We Won: The Mother Who Stopped Her Son’s Deportation
by Mark Montegriffo
A mother, with the help of the public, activists, journalists, celebrities and MPs, fought the Home Office to successfully stop the deportation of her autistic son Osime Brown. Mark Montegriffo reports.
Report: Psychiatrists Are Covering for Cruelty in Prisons. A Group of Campaigners Wants to Stop Them
by Sophie K Rosa
Since 2015, the Royal College of Psychiatrists has offered prisons with extreme isolation units "Enabling Environment" status. In an open letter to the RCP, prison campaigners say the only thing the college is enabling is abuse. Sophie Hemery reports.
Long Read: Why Do the Police Exist?
by Connor Woodman
Long read: When and why were police forces first invented? Connor Woodman takes a look - and argues that far from protecting communities from ‘crime’, the police’s role has always been to control and discipline the working class.
Analysis: Would ‘Defund the Police’ Work in the UK?
by Tom Kemp & Koshka Duff
'Defund the police' has become a central demand of Black Lives Matter protesters in the United States. UK activists should seize the moment to formulate their own demands, drawing on the long-standing abolitionist campaigns and traditions of resistance that already exist in Britain, write Koshka Duff and Tom Kemp.
The Lockdown: The Lockdown: Arresting the Virus
Oonagh Ryder and Carl Cattermole speak to Kevin Blowe about the new police powers that the Coronavirus Act 2020 has brought in. They are also joined by Becka Hudson to discuss the government's focus on criminalisation over public health.
Opinion: Release Women From Prison and Give Them the Support They Need
by Sophia Benedict
In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, the government must urgently begin releasing women from prison, while also ensuring that they are supported after their release, writes Sophia Benedict.
The Lockdown: The Virus in the Prisons
Oonagh Ryder and Carl Cattermole update on the spread of COVID-19 in UK prisons.
7 Pandemic Demands to Make Sure Everyone Is Protected
by Flannán Shell
With the government consistently failing to offer a meaningful response, Flannán Shell presents a list of demands to ensure everyone, no matter their situation, is protected in the face of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Johnson’s Nigerian Prison Has Been Scrapped, but His Law and Order Agenda Is Still Racist
by Caren Holmes
Boris Johnson’s plan to pay for the expansion of a Nigerian prison has fallen through, according to information obtained by FOI request. While the project's cancellation exemplifies Johnson’s habit of making ill-conceived promises he can't keep, the proposal itself offers important insight into our new prime minister's wider carceral colonial vision of “law and order” - a vision he is currently trying to implement in the UK.
The Lockdown: A World Without Prisons?
Oonagh Ryder and Sam Swann join a live panel for an event with Bristol Momentum entitled, 'A World Without Prisons?'
The Lockdown: Profits and the Prison Industry
Oonagh Ryder and Sam Swann discuss the Incarcerated Workers Organising Committee (IWOC) and proposed prison expansion.
The Lockdown: Policing by Consent?
Oonagh Ryder and Sam Swann speak to Koshka Duff, a lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Nottingham. In 2013, she was arrested and strip searched after offering a legal advice card to a teenager being stopped and searched in Hackney.
The Lockdown: Deaths in State Custody 2: INQUEST
Oonagh Ryder and Sam Swann speak to Deborah Coles, Director of the charity INQUEST.
The Lockdown: Deaths in State Custody 1: Justice for Sean Rigg
Oonagh Ryder and Sam Swann speak to Marcia Rigg, the sister of Sean Rigg who died in police custody in 2008.