Fighting Toxic Prisons: Mass incarceration and Ecology
This article was originally published in the second issue of ‘Whirlwind’ a new Earth First Zine, included in the handbook for this year’s Earth First Gathering. For as long as…
End Toxic Prisons Tour – Autumn 2017
Announcing the End Toxic Prisons Tour – Autumn 2017! This Autumn, the Campaign to Fight Toxic Prisons from the US will be touring the UK with Community Action on Prison…
Suicide and self-harm in prisons hit worst ever levels
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/jun/29/suicide-and-self-harm-in-prisons-hit-worst-ever-levels Public spending watchdog says it is unclear how inmates’ mental health can be improved with current levels of funding and insufficient data ‘When prisons are short-staffed … prisoners…
2016: Empty Cages Collective End of Year Review
This post aims to share with the world what we have learned and achieved in our third year as a small collective struggling against the prison system. You can read…
Empty Cages Collective’s response to the Government’s Prison Reform Plans
Yesterday, the British State announced its plans for reforming prisons across England and Wales. This article aims to offer some radical analysis on the situation. We will be working with…
Prisons to get ‘biggest overhaul in a generation’
Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-37854358 Prisons in England and Wales are to see their biggest overhaul in a generation, Justice Secretary Liz Truss has said. She unveiled a White Paper detailing £1.3bn investment…
Glen Parva prison to close next year and be replaced with new-build adult jail
Source: http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/1970s-glen-parva-prison-to-close-next-year-and-be-replaced-with-new-build-jail/story-29865191-detail/story.html By danjmartin Glen Parva prison is to be closed and replaced with a newly built category C adult prison. The new jail will be one of five to…
Prisons: places of harm and dehabilitation
Important article highlighting current conditions in the British Prison System. Source: https://www.opendemocracy.net/openjustice/prisons-places-of-harm-and-dehabilitation Dr David Scott 1 November 2016 Liz Truss promises penal reform but it places profits over people and…
Government accused of presiding over a ‘bloodbath’ as prison suicides and assaults soar
Disturbing article about the increasing prisoner suicide rate in the UK. Source: https://www.politicshome.com/news/uk/home-affairs/prisons/news/80261/government-accused-presiding-over-bloodbath-prison-suicides Suicides, assaults and incidents of self-harm in prisons all increased in the last year, new figures have…
Women given TENTS when released from prison with nowhere to go
Source: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/women-given-tents-released-prison-7742979 PA A cell in the new HMP Bronzefield in Ashford Middlesex Women have been given tents when they were released from prison with nowhere to go, a watchdog…
Trouble in prisons at “epidemic levels”
Source: http://www.itv.com/news/granada/2016-03-24/trouble-in-prisons-at-epidemic-levels/ Photo: ITV News A report says trouble in North West prisons has reached “epidemic proportions”. Prison officers here have been forced to deal with 125 incidents of “concerted…
Michael Gove announces plans for ‘reform prisons’
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/mar/16/michael-gove-announces-plans-for-reform-prisons Justice secretary says new prisons will have more autonomy – and will get power to take over failing jails Michael Gove gives evidence to the Commons justice committee…
Part Three – The Colour of Violence – Women of Colour & the Prison Industrial Complex in the UK
Women of colour are the fastest growing prison population worldwide[1]. You can find the post here that shares more detail about women in prison, their backgrounds and the violence they…
Part One – For everyone sick of prison visits – a Call Out for the Women & Trans* Week of Action against the Prison Industrial complex
This April, a Week of Action is taking place across England, Wales and Scotland to confront the prison industrial complex; the overlapping interests of government and industry that use surveillance,…
G4S to sell controversial youth jail contracts
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/feb/26/g4s-to-sell-controversial-youth-jail-contracts Private security firm to sell children’s services businesses, including Medway facility at centre of alleged abuse G4S has run the Medway secure training centre since it opened in…
Shabby, overcrowded, violent and grim: life in Leicester Prison
Source: http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/Life-Leicester-Prison/story-28746345-detail/story.html Inmates at Leicester prison find it easier to get their hands on drugs and alcohol than basic toiletries and a change of clothes, according to a stinging inspection…
Attacks on prison staff reach highest level in at least 10 years
Source: https://home.bt.com/news/uk-news/attacks-on-prison-staff-reach-highest-level-in-at-least-10-years-11364036701786 Attacks on prison staff are at their highest level for at least a decade amid soaring levels of violence in jails, new figures reveal. Attacks on prison staff…
Prisoner stages rooftop protest at HMP Pentonville
Source: http://www.camdennewjournal.com/prisonview POLICE negotiators were scrambled to Pentonville prison today (Wednesday) after an inmate climbed on to a roof and began screaming complaints about conditions inside the jail. I watched…