prisons

Locking up prisoners with mental health problems is both cruel and barbaric…

| Readers 602

A few months ago I took a tour of the Crumlin Road Gaol. During the tour the guide explained how during the 19th century it was the practice to keep prisoners solitary at all times. This was known as the Separate System. To quote the Wikipedia article on it: The objective of such a prison or “penitentiary” was that of penance by the prisoners through silent reflection upon their crimes and behaviour, as much as that of prison security. Prisoners were alone …

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Rehabilitation revolution? The Tory mission to change the prison system

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Michael Gove promises “wholesale change” of the prison system. Is his reform agenda One Nation Conservatism in action or just more empty social-justice rhetoric from the Tory government?   The prison service is in crisis and getting worse. As a report from Nick Hardwick, the former chief inspector of prisons, shows, more prisoners were murdered, committed suicide, self-harmed or assaulted in 2015 than in 2010. “It cannot go on like this,”  he said.  The report, published last July, quoted an …

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@LMcAtackney on #Archaeology of the Troubles at #PRONI

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There is a launch tonight in PRONI’s (under-used!) building this evening for Dr Laura McAtackney‘s new book on The Archaeology of the Troubles/The dark heritage of Long Kesh/Maze prison. There are four speakers at the launch, including Laura and Professor Cahal McLaughlin of Queens’s University Belfast who will set the scene by presenting documented personal narratives of Long Kesh/Maze, recorded as part of the ‘Prisons Memory Archive’ project.A member of PRONI staff will also explore archives that illustrate some unusual historical nuances connected …

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Hostage taking in NI prisons

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Since his election earlier this year Jim Allister has become something of a bête noire for justice minister David Ford. It was Allister who first exposed the possibility of changing the symbols of the prison service and dropping the term “Her Majesty’s Prison” resulting in Peter Robinson’s slap down for Ford. Allister also highlighted the discovery of a large amount of cash being brought to Maghaberry. His latest questions to Ford have produced the revelation that in the past four …

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Peter Robinson: tactics, strategy and prisons

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Peter Robinson’s recent comments about attracting Catholic votes are not especially new though he has developed his views a little further in his latest interview. I noted his attempts in such a direction some months ago following the assembly elections. Some have sought to juxtapose negatively these seemingly liberal comments with Robinson’s threat to resign as First Minister if David Ford made changes to the prison service such as removing the crown from the uniform and dropping the term “Her …

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