Latest news with #prisonovercrowding
Times
6 days ago
- Times
Prisoners freed in error as jail ‘fails to calculate sentences'
Ten inmates at HMP Pentonville were mistakenly released early while 130 were illegally detained after their release date when staff 'failed to calculate sentences accurately', the prisons watchdog has found. The failures, which came after the government introduced emergency early release measures to ease the overcrowding crisis in jails, were revealed in one of the worst inspection reports in recent years by the prisons inspectorate, which has put the north London jail into special measures. Oversight of inmates who were supposed to be under constant supervision was 'shockingly poor', with one prison officer found asleep, two others reading books and another 'completely absent', according to the report by Charlie Taylor, the chief inspector of prisons. Taylor said that these 'unacceptable practices' in the care of prisoners requiring constant supervision were of particular concern because there had been three suicides at the jail this year. His report also cited 'frightening' conditions, such as cells being infected with cockroaches and mice. He served Pentonville with an urgent notification, which means that the Ministry of Justice must establish an action plan within 28 days to improve conditions. It is the tenth prison or young offender institution to be served an urgent notification since November 2022. The watchdog said that data from Pentonville showed 130 inmates — 20 per cent of those eligible for release — had been held illegally after their release date in the last six months. The backlog in sentencing calculations also meant ten prisoners were released early 'in error' between July 2024 and June 2025, Taylor's report said. The illegal detention of prisoners beyond their release date will make them eligible for compensation payments at taxpayers' expense, which could add up to millions of pounds. In a letter to Shabana Mahmood, the justice secretary, the chief inspector also said that arrangements for the first night new prisoners spent at the north London jail and their induction were 'chaotic and even frightening'. Men were held in dirty cells that were 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 day. The report also said that 60 per cent of prisoners were sharing cells designed for one person, many living areas were dirty and there was a widespread infestation of mice and cockroaches. 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 affect change. Yet many of its shocking failures are firmly within the control of leaders. • Drones 'could soon be used to fly prisoners out of jail' 'The governor will need significant support and investment from HM Prison and Probation Service to strengthen his senior leadership team, re-focus on the basics, and put in place effective oversight and assurance systems to turn this failing prison around.' A survey of prisoners revealed that 44 per cent told inspectors that they felt unsafe at the time of inspection, which the watchdog said was the highest figure recorded during his tenure as chief inspector. Pentonville is the tenth prison to be issued with an urgent notification since November 2022, following Exeter, Cookham Wood Young Offender Institution, Bristol, Woodhill, Bedford, Wandsworth, Rochester, Manchester and Winchester prisons. The emergency measure was introduced in 2017 as a way to raise immediate concerns after an inspection, which requires a response and action plan by the justice secretary within 28 days. Elsewhere, the inspector's report found that when releases were planned, 23 per cent of those prisoners were homeless on the day they were released, and very few had employment on release. Reacting to the urgent notification, Pia Sinha, chief executive of the Prison Reform Trust, said: 'Prisoners illegally held after they should have been released, or others released early in error, further undermine effective sentence planning and erode public confidence. 'This urgent notification must be a rallying cry for immediate action — fix the failing infrastructure, improve staff training, and treat prisoners with dignity.' Andrew Neilson, director of campaigns at the Howard League for Penal Reform, said that the findings of the inspection were 'outrageous' and represent a 'new low' for an overcrowded public service on the brink of collapse. He added: 'While the government inherited a dire state of affairs in prisons, it has had more than a year to bring about change. As report cards go, such a dire account of dysfunction in Pentonville instils little confidence that ministers have a grip of the situation.'
The Guardian
13-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Sweden set to rent cells in Estonian jails as it runs out of room for its prisoners
Sweden is moving away from criminal rehabilitation in favour of US-style mass incarceration, experts have said, as the country prepares to rent places in Estonian jails to help house its rapidly expanding prison population. The move to outsource prison places is one of a slew of policies aimed at transforming the Swedish criminal justice system as the centre-right government struggles to tackle gang violence and prisons warn of overcrowding. Last week the justice department said it had instructed Kriminalvården (the Swedish prison and probation service) to 'make the necessary preparations' for the Estonian scheme. Under an agreement signed by Stockholm and Tallinn in June, up to 600 prison places in the Baltic country are expected to be made available. According to a recent Kriminalvården report, Sweden's prison population could – in the most extreme scenario – grow from 7,800 this year to 41,000 in 2034 as a result of more punitive policies driven by the far right. Observers say it represents a marked shift for a country which for decades prided itself on prison policies focused on rehabilitation and reintegration. Sweden is not set up to cope with a rise in the numbers being sentenced to jail time as the government grapples with an unprecedented wave of violence brought about by gang crime. The prison service chief of staff, Joakim Righammar, has said Sweden's prisons are in a 'crisis situation' of overcrowding. The number of children facing lengthy periods in prison is particularly striking: in recent years, a change in approach has led to children as young as 15 being jailed for 10 years or more. The government, which depends on the support of the far-right Sweden Democrats, is now considering a proposal to lower the age of criminal responsibility from 15 to 14 for severe offences. The main opposition party, the centre-left Social Democrats, have said they would support such a move. The Sweden Democrats have called for the age to be lowered to 13. For the first time, next year, the government also plans to introduce youth prisons in place of the current secure youth care homes, where young offenders are usually placed and the maximum sentence is four years. The justice minister, Gunnar Strömmer, said the deal with Estonia marked 'an important step to relieve the Swedish prison and probation service' from a 'pressured situation'. He added: 'For it to work in practice, careful preparations are required. It is crucial that everything from security and legal certainty to cooperation with Estonian authorities are ready to function properly when the agreement comes into force.' But others have said the numbers are a drop in the ocean compared with what is needed. 'If we're looking at having 40,000 prisoners, then 600 cells is not going to do much,' said Emelí Lönnqvist, who researches crime policy and prisons across the Nordics at Stockholm University. Lönnqvist said Sweden was abandoning its belief in rehabilitation and becoming more focused on punishment and 'locking people up'. The government and the Social Democrats were pandering to the far-right, she said. 'It's quite terrifying that everything is happening without much debate around it,' she said. 'We're looking at basically mass incarceration like we have seen in the US and we know that it doesn't work. We know it's the opposite: it's going to make things worse.' She added: 'The notion of stability and a humane rational approach to crime policy, that's just gone in Sweden at this point.' Olle Jonasson, a Stockholm pastor who spends time talking to children as young as 15 who are in custody – suspected of serious crimes including murder – said politicians were too focused on punishing vulnerable people instead of rehabilitation. Most of the children he sees, he said, have 'no criminal identity' but are used like 'single-use objects' by gangs, while many of those ordering the violence evade punishment abroad. 'I am not saying they should go without consequences; of course, they have done these serious crimes, so they must have treatment,' he said. 'But we need to lose this 'punishment thinking' instead of helping them find a new chance.' Society, he added, 'is trampling on the weakest link'. The proposal to send prisoners to Estonia – 250 miles away, across the Baltic Sea – still needs to be approved by the parliaments of both countries, but the Swedish justice department expects the agreement to be in place by the summer of 2026. The justice department denies it is moving towards mass incarceration and away from rehabilitation, citing work it has done on prevention. This article was amended on 12 July 2025. Owing to an error introduced during editing, an earlier version referred to the Black Sea when Baltic Sea was meant. It also put the distance between Sweden and Estonia at 300 miles; Stockholm and Tallinn are about 250 miles apart, although the nearest points between the countries' mainlands are only about 130 miles apart.
The Guardian
12-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Sweden set to rent cells in Estonian jails as it runs out of room for its prisoners
Sweden is moving away from criminal rehabilitation in favour of US-style mass incarceration, experts have said, as the country prepares to rent places in Estonian jails to help house its rapidly expanding prison population. The move to outsource prison places is one of a slew of policies aimed at transforming the Swedish criminal justice system as the centre-right government struggles to tackle gang violence and prisons warn of overcrowding. Last week the justice department said it had instructed Kriminalvården (the Swedish prison and probation service) to 'make the necessary preparations' for the Estonian scheme. Under an agreement signed by Stockholm and Tallinn in June, up to 600 prison places in the Baltic country are expected to be made available. According to a recent Kriminalvården report, Sweden's prison population could – in the most extreme scenario – grow from 7,800 this year to 41,000 in 2034 as a result of more punitive policies driven by the far right. Observers say it represents a marked shift for a country which for decades prided itself on prison policies focused on rehabilitation and reintegration. Sweden is not set up to cope with a rise in the numbers being sentenced to jail time as the government grapples with an unprecedented wave of violence brought about by gang crime. The prison service chief of staff, Joakim Righammar, has said Sweden's prisons are in a 'crisis situation' of overcrowding. The number of children facing lengthy periods in prison is particularly striking: in recent years, a change in approach has led to children as young as 15 being jailed for 10 years or more. The government, which depends on the support of the far-right Sweden Democrats, is now considering a proposal to lower the age of criminal responsibility from 15 to 14 for severe offences. The main opposition party, the centre-left Social Democrats, have said they would support such a move. The Sweden Democrats have called for the age to be lowered to 13. For the first time, next year, the government also plans to introduce youth prisons in place of the current secure youth care homes, where young offenders are usually placed and the maximum sentence is four years. The justice minister, Gunnar Strömmer, said the deal with Estonia marked 'an important step to relieve the Swedish prison and probation service' from a 'pressured situation'. He added: 'For it to work in practice, careful preparations are required. It is crucial that everything from security and legal certainty to cooperation with Estonian authorities are ready to function properly when the agreement comes into force.' But others have said the numbers are a drop in the ocean compared with what is needed. 'If we're looking at having 40,000 prisoners, then 600 cells is not going to do much,' said Emelí Lönnqvist, who researches crime policy and prisons across the Nordics at Stockholm University. Lönnqvist said Sweden was abandoning its belief in rehabilitation and becoming more focused on punishment and 'locking people up'. The government and the Social Democrats were pandering to the far-right, she said. 'It's quite terrifying that everything is happening without much debate around it,' she said. 'We're looking at basically mass incarceration like we have seen in the US and we know that it doesn't work. We know it's the opposite: it's going to make things worse.' She added: 'The notion of stability and a humane rational approach to crime policy, that's just gone in Sweden at this point.' Olle Jonasson, a Stockholm pastor who spends time talking to children as young as 15 who are in custody – suspected of serious crimes including murder – said politicians were too focused on punishing vulnerable people instead of rehabilitation. Most of the children he sees, he said, have 'no criminal identity' but are used like 'single-use objects' by gangs, while many of those ordering the violence evade punishment abroad. 'I am not saying they should go without consequences; of course, they have done these serious crimes, so they must have treatment,' he said. 'But we need to lose this 'punishment thinking' instead of helping them find a new chance.' Society, he added, 'is trampling on the weakest link'. The proposal to send prisoners to Estonia – 300 miles away, across the Black Sea – still needs to be approved by the parliaments of both countries, but the Swedish justice department expects the agreement to be in place by the summer of 2026. The justice department denies it is moving towards mass incarceration and away from rehabilitation, citing work it has done on prevention.
The Sun
14-06-2025
- The Sun
Married ex-prison officer jailed for filming steamy romp with lag in cell freed after just 5 MONTHS
A FORMER prison officer filmed having sex with a lag in his cell has been freed from jail early after serving just five months. Married Linda de Sousa Abreu, 31, was given 15 months for her romp with burly serial burglar Linton Weirich. 3 But she has been released on licence as new rules to relieve prison overcrowding mean offenders can be freed after a third of their sentence if they behave. But ex-Met Police detective Peter Bleksley said: 'This is a shocking example of soft justice. "Where's the deterrent when sentences and time served are as short as this?' OnlyFans model De Sousa Abreu's romp with Weirich at troubled HMP Wandsworth, South London, was revealed by The Sun a year ago. Her discarded radio crackled nearby as another con filmed them. In January, she was jailed at Isleworth crown court for misconduct in a public office. The Ministry of Justice said: 'Offenders released on licence are subject to strict conditions and can be recalled to prison immediately if they break the rules.'
Yahoo
31-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
France's prison population reaches record high
France's prison population has reached a record high of more than 80,000 inmates amid a government drive for fast-track justice. Over the past year, the number of people incarcerated grew by 6,000, taking the occupancy rate to 133.7 per cent. France now has 83,681 inmates held in facilities that have a total capacity of just 62,570. That figure is around 30 per cent worse than in England and Wales, where there are 88,000 prisoners and 89,000 places, figures last month showed. The record overcrowding has seen 23 out of France's 186 detention facilities operating at more than twice their capacity, forcing some prisoners to sleep on mattresses on the floor. The policy of fast-track justice in Emmanuel Macron's government, where prosecutors can bring a person to trial soon after being taken into custody, has been blamed for the situation. These immediate hearings mean more people can be sentenced in a shorter amount of time, funnelling people into prison at a faster rate. In 90 per cent of these cases, the outcome of these fast-track hearings is detention, whether pre-trial or to serve out a sentence, according to Dominique Simonnot, the head of a prison watchdog group in France. France now sits behind Cyprus as the second worst country in the European Union for prison overcrowding, according to latest statistics. Separate data published by Eurostat, the EU's statistical office, found that the highest overcrowding was observed in Cyprus, with an occupancy rate of 226.2, France at 122.9, and Italy at 119.1. Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin, a hardline figure in Mr Macron's cabinet, unveiled proposals last month to house the country's most dangerous prisoners in French Guiana - an overseas territory situated north of Brazil - to try and accommodate the overflow. Prison overcrowding is 'bad for absolutely everyone,' Mr Darmanin said in late April, citing the 'appalling conditions' for prisoners and 'the insecurity and violence' faced by prison officers. That same month, 10 French prisons, from Paris to Marseille in the south, were hit by coordinated attacks in response to government attempts to tackle drug trafficking. In the space of two days arsonists set fires to parked cars, many belonging to prison staff, outside jails in Villepinte, Nanterre, Aix-Luynes and Valence, while the entrance to one prison in Toulon was sprayed with more than a dozen bullets from an automatic weapon. No injuries were reported. No group claimed responsibility for the attacks, but Le Parisien newspaper reported that vandalised cars were found tagged with the letters DDPF, which stands for Defending the Rights of French Prisoners. A law currently going through the French parliament would also create a special prosecutor's office to deal with narcotics crimes and give new powers to investigators. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
