header-logo header-logo

The joys of jail

26 June 2008 / Julian Broadhead
Issue: 7327 / Categories: Opinion , Local government , Public , Community care
printer mail-detail

Julian Broadhead dismisses tabloid rants about the cushiness of life behind bars

In the bad old days prisoners broke rocks, sewed mailbags and tried to escape at the slightest opportunity. Not any more. Since two high profile breakouts in the 1990s, millions of pounds have been spent on keeping them in, but it seems the money might have been wasted. Now, we are reliably informed, life in Her Majesty's prisons is so comfortable that no one wants to leave. Even more astounding, prisoners do not break out any more—their criminal brethren break in.

Two months ago, when the assistant general secretary of the Prison Officers' Association, Glyn Travis, brought this sorry state of affairs to the media, the story sounded a little far-fetched. Prisoners, he said, were “treated with kid gloves” by prison staff—his members—who took them breakfast in bed. At HMP Everthorpe in East Yorkshire, he said, drug dealers used ladders to climb the wall and passed their wares through cell windows to eager customers. But the pudding did seem as

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

DWF—19 appointments

DWF—19 appointments

Belfast team bolstered by three senior hires and 16 further appointments

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Firm strengthens leveraged finance team with London partner hire

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Double hire marks launch of family team in Leeds

NEWS
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve reports on Haynes v Thomson, the first judicial application of the Supreme Court’s For Women Scotland ruling in a discrimination claim, in this week's NLJ
Charlie Mercer and Astrid Gillam of Stewarts crunch the numbers on civil fraud claims in the English courts, in this week's NLJ. New data shows civil fraud claims rising steadily since 2014, with the King’s Bench Division overtaking the Commercial Court as the forum of choice for lower-value disputes
The Supreme Court issued a landmark judgment in July that overturned the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, once poster boys of the Libor and Euribor scandal. In NLJ this week, Neil Swift of Peters & Peters considers what the ruling means for financial law enforcement
Small law firms want to embrace technology but feel lost in a maze of jargon, costs and compliance fears, writes Aisling O’Connell of the Solicitors Regulation Authority in this week's NLJ
Artificial intelligence may be revolutionising the law, but its misuse could wreck cases and careers, warns Clare Arthurs of Penningtons Manches Cooper in this week's NLJ
back-to-top-scroll