Chief prisons inspector warns of ‘revolving door’ as around 1,750 inmates are set for early release
The chief inspector of prisons for England and Wales has warned that today’s early release of around 1,750 offenders is going to be “risky”.
It is being done to create space in the country’s overcrowded prisons and the government insists the alternative was “unthinkable” and would have led to a “total collapse of the criminal justice system”.
But HMP Chief Inspector of Prisons Charlie Taylor told Sky News: “It’s a risky time with so many prisoners coming out at the same time. Normally, there are about 1,000 prisoners coming out a week. Most of those 1,000 prisoners will still come out this week. But on top of that, we’ve got 1,700 other prisoners, and then in October, we have another tranche of around 2,000 coming out as well, inevitably, that puts some risks into local communities and greater strain on already stretched probation services.”
Justifying the decision, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: “We inherited a prison system on the point of collapse. This is not a change we wanted to make – it was the only option left on the table because the alternative would have seen a total collapse of the criminal justice system.
“We would have seen the breakdown of law and order because courts would not have been able to conduct trials, and the police would not have been able to make arrests.”
Early release will not apply to sexual offences, serious violence and terrorism offences and some cases relating to domestic abuse. The government says it announced the decision as early as possible to give probation services time to prepare.
The mass release coincides with a damning report from the chief inspector which describes a “devastating picture” of life behind bars with “a surge in illicit drug use, self-harm and violence”.
Out of 32 inspected prisons 30 were “poor or insufficiently good” and 60% were overcrowded.
It found that often planned releases were underfunded. At Bedford Prison 30% of those leaving jail had nowhere to live.
Former HMP Parc inmate Zack Griffiths said drugs came into the prison via corrupt officers
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Mr Taylor said: “Unless we make sure that people are kept in decent conditions and that they’re doing the work they need to do in order to go out and be successful when they leave prison, then the danger is we end up, as we see in so many cases, that prisoners are simply a revolving door; untreated mental health problems, untreated drug users, people with nowhere to live when they come out, and that just creates more victims of crime, more mayhem in communities and a prison population that is now almost unmanageable.”
His report says the previous government’s early release scheme lessened some pressures temporarily, but did not solve the problem.
Campaigners say that overcrowding is fatal for some prisoners and that overcrowded jails along with staff shortages, mean that inmates are at greater risk of drug addiction and self-harm.
Earlier this year there were 10 deaths in just three months in Parc prison in Bridgend.
A number are thought to be related to synthetic drugs such as spice and nitazines.
Self-harm also doubled in the prison in the last year from 1,088 recorded incidents to 2,330.
26-year-old Ryan Harding was two months from being released from Parc prison when he died of an apparent overdose in January last year.
Ryan Harding died in prison
He’d not been known to use hard drugs, but his mother Catherine Harding says an ombudsman report found synthetic drugs were in his system.
Ms Harding blames the prison for his death saying her son was more vulnerable because he wasn’t getting enough of his medication for epilepsy, and she believes prison officers were among those bringing drugs onto the blocks.
She told Sky News: “I know there were drugs going in there and it wasn’t the prisoners taking them in, or the visitors, it was the prison officers – there’s no other explanation.”
Read more:
Prison population hits record high
Judges told to push back sentencing amid prison overcrowding crisis
Only 100 spaces left in male prisons amid ongoing crisis
Catherine Harding’s son died of an apparent overdose in HMP Parc
HMP Parc is privately run by G4S.
A G4S spokesperson said: “We send our condolences to Ms Harding and the families who have lost loved ones.
“The vast majority of our staff are honest and hardworking, but, in common with other prisons, we face the challenge of criminal behaviour from a small minority.”
The prison can’t comment on Mr Harding’s case because of an ongoing investigation.
There has been a recent case of corruption at the prison.
In August this year Parc prison officer Jodie Beer, 30, was jailed for six years for attempting to smuggle drugs to an inmate concealed in orange juice cartons.
Jodie Beer was jailed following an investigation by Tarian, the southern Wales regional organised crime unit Pic: Tarian
Zack Griffiths, 32, who was in HMP Parc last year for drug offences set up a campaign group called HMP Prisons Justice Group UK.
He said drugs came into Parc prison through corrupt officers, but also drones were being flown up to some of the windows on certain blocks.
He added: “Very often these drugs are be mixed with very potent synthetic opiates. If you’re not a chemist, how would you know or mixtures you give to people? How do you know what the tolerance levels of the person who’s going to take the drugs are? That’s how people end up dead.”
Zack Griffiths says ‘unstable’ inmates are set for release
He says some prisoners are locked up in their cells for up to 23 hours a day and this makes them vulnerable to drug addiction.
He told Sky News: “What we’re talking about here is placing the public at harm, because these people are not being rehabilitated. Inmates are going to come back out onto the streets in your towns, villages and cities, and I consider them to be a higher risk because they’re using drugs, they’re unstable.”
Parc Prison insists it offers a good rehabilitation programme and told Sky News: “We hold a complex cohort of prisoners, many with mental health and substance misuse issues. We are committed to supporting men through our multidisciplinary team of prison and NHS staff.”
Some inmates at Parc will be among the hundreds being released today from prisons across England and Wales.
But with prison recalls already on the rise, it is perhaps inevitable that some will reoffend or breach their bail conditions and find themselves back behind bars.
While the nature of Donald Trump’s second state visit is indeed unusual, from the moment Sir Keir Starmer delivered the gold-edged invitation it began a process steeped in tradition.
State visits are usually reserved to one per head of state, with Trump last hosted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2019.
Typically, second-term US presidents are offered a shorter visit, perhaps tea or lunch with the monarch at Windsor Castle. But the red carpet is literally being rolled out once again, with Trump receiving a second full state visit, with all the pomp and pageantry it entails.
An indication was given early on in Trump’s second term that he’d be receptive to a second state visit, and so – on perhaps the advice of the new prime minister – the King issued a second invitation.
The greatest form of tradition is one that always evolves, and so this may now set a new precedent for presidents who are voted out but then return to serve a second term.
Trump and his wife Melania with the then Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall in 2019. Pic: PA
Any nation can hold a state visit, but what is unique about Britain remains our internationally respected pageantry.
Even down to the very invitation – there is a very precise format for inviting someone on a state visit.
An invite must be issued, established by international law. Written on a special gold-edged paper, embossed with a golden coat of arms that is issued, it forms part of a historic archive.
Breaches of protocol
Much has been made in the past about moments where protocol was breached – Michelle Obama famously put her arm around Queen Elizabeth in 2011, but, in all honesty, I doubt very much the Queen was upset by this.
The fuss was not made by the late monarch, who accepted that what mattered was that Americans should be made very welcome on behalf of the UK.
The Obamas meeting the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh during their 2011 state visit. Pic: PA
In 2018, criticism emerged against Trump, who appeared to make the Queen change places when the Guard of Honour was to be inspected.
But, in truth, it was Elizabeth II who had to correct herself because, in her long life as sovereign, she never escorted a visiting president.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
When Trump met the Queen
The escort should stand further from the troops and her self-correction was misinterpreted as his error.
Trump’s visit this time will likely generate just as many headlines, but I don’t think there will be critical moments where a breach occurs.
What it means for Trump – and is it worth it?
Trump’s mother would cut out and keep in a scrapbook containing pictures of the young Princess Elizabeth and her sister, Margaret Rose. It was an era before endless celebrity news, a time when public life revolved around the royals, the war, and survival.
And the president loved his mother, like many men do, so these things mean an enormous amount to him.
Read more:
No state visit has had a backdrop quite like this
Trump and Charles inspect the Guard of Honour. Pic: PA
When the horses go back to the stables and the carriages are put away, the impact of this visit will remain fresh in the mind of a president who may feel his nation – and maybe even he himself – have been affirmed by their ally.
Quite apart from the politics, although much will be said and written on that, there is one great hope for any state visit: that the country so many (myself included) have fought for can be safer and more successful as a result of the pomp and pageantry on display.
The suspect in the Madeleine McCann case has had strict conditions slapped on him ahead of his expected release from prison in the morning.
Christian B, who can’t be fully identified under privacy laws, will have to wear an electronic tag, surrender his passport and register his address with probation officers.
The German drifter, 49, is being freed after serving a seven-year sentence for rape, but remains the only suspect for the abduction of Madeleine, the toddler who vanished on a family holiday in Portugal in 2007.
It was not known where he would head, or who might help him adjust to a new life as the only suspect in the world’s most notorious unsolved child abduction mystery.
Prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters, who leads the Madeleine investigation, believes Christian B, 49, abducted and murdered the three-year-old during a family holiday in Portugal in 2007.
Madeleine vanished from her bed in a rented apartment as her parents and their friends dined nearby at the hotel complex in Praia da Luz on the Algarve coast.
Madeleine McCann
Earlier this week it emerged the Metropolitan Police had sent a formal “international letter of request” to Christian B in order for them to interview him – but he rejected it.
Explainer: The chequered history of Christian B
In the past few days, a probation case conference decided on the restrictions which his lawyers are expected to challenge.
His lawyer Philipp Marquort said: “This is an attempt by the public prosecutor’s office to keep him in a kind of pre-trial detention where they would have access to him at any time.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
How could Christian B refuse to be interviewed by the Metropolitan Police?
Christian B has denied any involvement in Madeleine’s disappearance.
Madeleine, who was nearly four, was sleeping in a room with her younger twin siblings when she went missing.
Donald Trump has arrived in the UK for his second state visit, telling reporters Britain is “a very special place”.
But as he headed to the residence of the US ambassador to the UK in central London to spend Tuesday night, giant projections of the president alongside paedophile Jeffrey Epstein were beamed on to Windsor Castle by protesters.
It is there he will meet with King Charles later today.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Projection on to Windsor Castle highlights Trump-Epstein links
Four people were arrested on “suspicion of malicious communications” after the images of Mr Trump and Epstein appeared on the landmark, Thames Valley Police said.
Mr Trump has faced mounting questions about his relationship with the disgraced late billionaire after messages allegedly sent to him by the president were published by Congress earlier this month.
The apparent notes – which Mr Trump denies having written – appeared in a 2003 “birthday book” for Epstein which also included messages from Peter Mandelson, who has since been sacked as Sir Keir Starmer’s ambassador to the US over his ties to the financier.
Trump’s mugshot was also beamed on to the castle. Pic: Reuters
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper was among those who greeted the president and First Lady Melania as they disembarked their official plane at Stansted airport on Tuesday evening.
An honour guard of RAF personnel from The King’s Colour Squadron lined up as he stepped off the plane.
Trump and First Lady Melania Trump disembark Air Force One. Pic: Reuters
Trump excited to see ‘my friend’ Charles
Speaking to reporters mid-flight, Trump said: “My relationship is very good with the UK, and Charles, as you know, who’s now King, is my friend.
“It’s the first time this has ever happened where somebody was honoured twice. So, it’s a great honour.”
He told the journalists “everybody is looking forward to it. You’re going to have the best pictures”.
The president speaks to reporters on his way over. Pic: Reuters
To mark the president’s arrival, a new UK-US tech deal was announced that could generate billions of pounds of investment for Britain.
Sir Keir – who will host Mr Trump at his Chequers country retreat tomorrow – said the deal would deliver “growth, security and opportunity up and down the country”.
The “tech prosperity deal”, announced as Mr Trump touched down, will see the UK and US co-operate in areas including artificial intelligence (AI), quantum computing and nuclear power.
It comes alongside £31bn of investment in Britain from top US tech firms, including £22bn from Microsoft.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Mark Stone on the significance of Trump’s trip
‘I’m into helping Britain’
It also follows the agreement of an economic deal in May that covered a reduction in some of Mr Trump’s tariffs.
However, the government is understood to have given up hope – for now at least – of reducing the president’s levy on steel back down to zero. It currently stands at 25%.
Mr Trump had hinted at possible tariff relief for British steel as he boarded Air Force One, telling reporters he was “into helping” Britain on refining the trade deal signed earlier this year.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment12 months agoHere are the best electric bikes you can buy at every price level in October 2024