Latest news with #LordTimpson
BBC News
5 days ago
- BBC News
'Cockroach-infested' Pentonville Prison illegally detains inmates
A cockroach-infested prison that illegally detained inmates for longer than their release date in "frightening conditions" has been put into special inspector of prisons Charlie Taylor served an urgent notification on HMP Pentonville in Islington, north London, after an inspection discovered many inmates had been kept there after they should have been freed because staff "failed to calculate sentences accurately".The watchdog said data showed 130 inmates, 20% of those eligible for release, had been held after their release date in the past six Minister for Prisons, Lord Timpson, said: "The team is already working to urgently address the concerns raised." "We will publish an action plan in the coming weeks to support them in these efforts," he said. 'Shocking failures' The watchdog also found 10 inmates had been released early "in error" between July 2024 and June a letter to the justice secretary, the chief inspector said arrangements for new prisoners' induction and first night at the jail were "chaotic and even frightening".Men were held in dirty cells missing bedding, furniture, telephones and pillows, the watchdog said, while the majority of prisoners were locked in their cells for more than 22 hours a report also said 60% of prisoners at the Category B prison were sharing cells that were designed for one person, and there was a widespread infestation of mice and took emergency action after they found oversight of prisoners under constant supervision was "shockingly poor". One prison officer was found asleep, two were reading books and another was "completely absent".The "unacceptable practices" in the care of prisoners under constant supervision was a particular concern for inspectors, given that there were three suicides at the jail in 2025. 'Rallying cry' Mr Taylor said: "Pentonville is an overcrowded, inner-city, Victorian prison with a record of poor performance over many years."Too many of its staff have become disillusioned about the possibility of improvement or their capacity to effect change."Yet many of its shocking failures are firmly within the control of leaders."He added: "The governor will need significant support and investment from HM Prison and Probation Service to strengthen his senior leadership team, refocus on the basics and put in place effective oversight and assurance systems to turn this failing prison around." Pentonville is the 10th prison to be issued with an urgent notification since November response to the chief inspector's findings, a Prison Reform Trust spokesperson said: "This urgent notification must be a rallying cry for immediate action – fix the failing infrastructure, improve staff training, and treat prisoners with dignity."Lord Timpson added: "This government will end the chaos we inherited in our jails. We are building 14,000 new prison places and reforming sentencing so our jails reduce reoffending, cut crime and keep victims safe."
BBC News
16-07-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Minister denies Labour 'strung along' by UK on youth justice
Work is underway looking at the devolution of probation and youth justice, the Welsh government's senior legal advisor has insisted after a UK minister played down the minister Lord Timpson said on Monday it was not "a priority" to devolve either probation or youth General Julie James said a more senior minister has authorised officials to work on the "beginnings" of the devolution of youth justice - and she said devolution was not in Lord Timpson's Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price said Lord Timpson's comments amounted to "paternalism". The Welsh government has been calling for criminal justice to be devolved for some is the only nation with its own parliament which shares a legal jurisdiction with England - with policing, the courts and prisons all the responsibility of Westminster and not Cardiff Labour has not agreed to full devolution of criminal justice but has said it would explore giving the Welsh government powers over youth justice and probation, promising that in its general election who call for a transfer of powers argue it would mean that prisons and probation can be better integrated with devolved services, or could allow ministers to change policies to make Welsh government has commissioned work from the Wales Centre on Public Policy on probation devolution, and from former north Wales chief constable Carl Monday Prisons Minister Lord Timpson told a Senedd committee that handing control over of either was not a "priority" while the criminal justice system was in "crisis".One Labour backbench MS said Lord Timpson's comments had been "pretty appalling".Blaenau Gwent MS Alun Davies described Lord Timpson on social media network X as an "unelected peer telling our parliament what powers we are allowed to hold". Devolution process 'not in remit' In the Senedd on Tuesday Adam Price asked Julie James if Wales was "being patronised by Westminster"."I don't agree with that characterisation at all," James said Huw Irranca-Davies, the deputy first minister, had "an extremely good meeting with the Lord Chancellor", Shabana Mahmood, "in which she authorised officials to work together on the beginnings of the steps for the the devolution of youth justice".James said an official had been appointed as a "head of youth justice devolution", and meetings on probation were said Lord Timpson had done "an enormous amount of work on the absolute shambles the Conservative government left the court and prison system"."To be fair to him, the devolution process is not within his remit," she said."The manifesto of the UK government said that it would explore the devolution of youth justice and probation, and we are doing that."I am confident that we will get the steps towards that that we expected in this first year and a bit of the UK Labour government, and I'm sure that that journey will continue." Price said in a statement: "Every commission - Silk, Thomas - has reached the same conclusion. Justice powers must align with devolved services. Scotland governs its own justice system with distinction, Northern Ireland shapes its own path with pride, Wales alone is told to wait."After one full year of supposed partnership, we have no draft legislation, no target date for the transfer of power, no outline budget with which to plan, and now we have Labour themselves saying no. This isn't partnership - it's paternalism." The first minister Eluned Morgan said things were "edging" forward on youth justice and probation.A Welsh government spokesperson said: "We have had productive discussions with the UK government on youth justice and probation and we are exploring options where responsibilities in the youth justice system could be realigned. "The deputy first minister will update the Senedd on developments in this area soon."
Yahoo
14-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Not priority to devolve probation says UK minister
A UK government minister has been accused of pouring "cold water" on the prospect of the Welsh government taking control over probation and youth justice. The Labour-led Cardiff administration has been pushing for further devolution on criminal justice - calls that Westminster colleagues have promised to consider. But Prisons Minister Lord Timpson has told a committee in the Welsh Parliament it is not "a priority" while the criminal justice system is "in crisis". Labour MS Jenny Rathbone said the comments were very disappointing. Lord Timpson says the criminal justice system faced "huge pressures" and there needed to be "stability" before "further changes" were considered. Senedd should not get control of police: Labour MP Westminster to keep policing under Labour plans Under the system of devolution established in 1999, the Senedd and Welsh government have never had control over criminal law. Various reports, including one from the former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown, have called for more devolution on criminal justice including youth justice and the probation service. Last summer's Welsh Labour manifesto said the party would "explore" the devolution of probation "to enable them to be more locally responsive". It was planned as part of a strategic review into probation and added it would "consider" the devolution of youth justice. Speaking to the Senedd's equality and social justice committee, the Prisons' Minister Lord Timpson told MSs that "we need to be in a much more stable position before we can think about further changes". Mick Antoniw, the former chief legal adviser to the Welsh Government, says there are "volumes of evidence" that devolution of probation "needs to happen and quickly". The Labour former counsel general told the committee that there was "no logical response to that other than we've had a decade of delay on actually looking at the enormous accumulation of evidence". Questioning Lord Timpson, he said: "What you seem to be suggesting is that we are going to go through that process of just continually looking at the evidence without ever really coming to a proper conclusion." Former Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price added: "Are you ruling out for the foreseeable future the full devolution of executive and legislative powers?". Lord Timpson said he wanted to "stabilise" a "bruised" service but added: "I'm not ruling anything out, I'm not ruling anything in. "What I'm focused on is trying to sort out the crisis in our justice system." After the meeting committee chair, Labour MS for Cardiff Central, Jenny Rathbone said the committee was "very disappointed". "The Welsh government has already started the groundwork to prepare because it believed there was a realistic prospect that these aspects could be devolved soon," she said. "This is in stark contrast to Lord Timpson's evidence before the Committee today which seemed to pour cold water on the prospect."
BBC News
14-07-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Not priority to devolve youth justice in Wales says UK minister
A UK government minister has been accused of pouring "cold water" on the prospect of the Welsh government taking control over probation and youth Labour-led Cardiff administration has been pushing for further devolution on criminal justice - calls that Westminster colleagues have promised to Prisons Minister Lord Timpson has told a committee in the Welsh Parliament it is not "a priority" while the criminal justice system is "in crisis".Labour MS Jenny Rathbone said the comments were very disappointing. Lord Timpson says the criminal justice system faced "huge pressures" and there needed to be "stability" before "further changes" were considered. Under the system of devolution established in 1999, the Senedd and Welsh government have never had control over criminal reports, including one from the former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown, have called for more devolution on criminal justice including youth justice and the probation summer's Welsh Labour manifesto said the party would "explore" the devolution of probation "to enable them to be more locally responsive".It was planned as part of a strategic review into probation and added it would "consider" the devolution of youth to the Senedd's equality and social justice committee, the Prisons' Minister Lord Timpson told MSs that "we need to be in a much more stable position before we can think about further changes".Mick Antoniw, the former chief legal adviser to the Welsh Government, says there are "volumes of evidence" that devolution of probation "needs to happen and quickly".The Labour former counsel general told the committee that there was "no logical response to that other than we've had a decade of delay on actually looking at the enormous accumulation of evidence".Questioning Lord Timpson, he said: "What you seem to be suggesting is that we are going to go through that process of just continually looking at the evidence without ever really coming to a proper conclusion."Former Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price added: "Are you ruling out for the foreseeable future the full devolution of executive and legislative powers?".Lord Timpson said he wanted to "stabilise" a "bruised" service but added: "I'm not ruling anything out, I'm not ruling anything in. "What I'm focused on is trying to sort out the crisis in our justice system." After the meeting committee chair, Labour MS for Cardiff Central, Jenny Rathbone said the committee was "very disappointed"."The Welsh government has already started the groundwork to prepare because it believed there was a realistic prospect that these aspects could be devolved soon," she said."This is in stark contrast to Lord Timpson's evidence before the Committee today which seemed to pour cold water on the prospect."
BBC News
07-07-2025
- BBC News
Drugs smuggled into prisons 'destabilising' them, watchdog says
An overwhelming amount of drugs being smuggled into prisons in England and Wales is "destabilising" the system and hindering efforts to stop re-offending, a watchdog has are being targeted by criminal gangs using drones to fly in contraband to sell to bored inmates being kept in cramped conditions, according to the chief inspector of prisons' annual report."This meant in many jails, there were seemingly uncontrolled levels of criminality that hard-pressed and often inexperienced staff were unable to contain," Charlie Taylor Minister Lord Timpson said the report showed the "scale of the crisis we inherited" and that the government was working to end the "chaos". The damning report published on Tuesday found overcrowding and staffing shortages were contributing to a lack of purposeful activities for prisoners to do that would aid their rehabilitation, with many turning to drugs to keep themselves staff and prisoners have been saying for several years that far too little is being done to keep drugs out of prisons.A survey of 5,431 prisoners found 39% said it was easy to acquire drugs, while 30% of random drug tests came back positive. In one prison, HMP Hindley, this rate was almost double. An inspection of HMP Bedford found random drug testing had not been conducted for 12 months despite drugs being a "significant threat to safety".Drugs are smuggled into prisons by visitors or staff, thrown over fences or flown in using inmate serving time for a violent offence told the BBC that getting drugs inside was "super easy".Speaking from his cell on an illegal phone, he said: "If you want spice [synthetic cannabis] or weed or something stronger, you can get it in a jiffy. Everyone inside knows who's got some. You can smell it across the wings. "The boredom is too much and sometimes you just want something to take your mind off it so you'll get high."The report said drones were being used to make regular deliveries to HMP Manchester and Long Lartin - which hold "some of the most dangerous men in the country, including terrorists and organised crime bosses".It said that physical security measures were inadequate, while at HMP Manchester "inexperienced staff were being manipulated or simply ignored by prisoners".Mr Taylor said the failure to tackle these issues presented a threat to national security."The challenge for the prison service must be to work in conjunction with the police and security services to manage prisoners associated with organised crime," Mr Taylor said."This is a threat that needs to be taken seriously at the highest levels of government." The report also found: Prisoners were spending too long locked in cells, with limited opportunities to spend time in fresh air or take part in recreational activitiesPrisoners in full-time work or education missed out on other activitiesPrisoners released early to ease overcrowding had placed a "huge burden on already-overstretched" probation unitsThe population is growing "faster than new [prison] spaces can be made available"Lord Timpson said the report highlighted the "unacceptable pressures faced by our hardworking staff".Addressing the issue of overcrowding, he said the government was building 14,000 extra places, with 2,400 already delivered, and "reforming sentencing to ensure we never run out of space again". He added that the government had pledged £40m to improve prison security, including enhanced CCTV, new windows and floodlighting. The Prison Service is also employing x-ray body scanners and detection dogs to combat government hopes reforms to sentencing will allow more prisoners to be released early, freeing up prison drugs in prison are nothing new, and as long as there is a demand, new ways are likely to be created to bring them drug dealers and addicts doing time, and a constant appetite to make cash, drugs are something that will continue to be an irresistible temptation to those inside.
