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Prisoners’ votes could have changed Election result
By Eric McGraw
For the UK to hold a General Election whilst defying the European Court ruling that prisoners have a right to vote has been described as a disgrace. It is also a matter of deep regret for a society that prides itself on the rule of law and democratic accountability.

We know that there were five constituencies, four held by Conservatives and one by Labour, with a majority roughly the same or even less than the population of the local prison. Lancaster and Fleetwood, for example, had a Conservative majority of just 332 while the two prisons in the constituency, Lancaster Farms and Lancaster Castle, could have wiped out the majority, or indeed increased it, if the 750 or so prisoners had voted. A similar story could be told at Newton Abbot in Devon where a Conservative MP scraped through with a parliamentary majority of 523. If the 700 or more prisoners at HMP Channings Wood had voted, they may well have returned a totally different Member of Parliament. read full article

It could not happen in Britain …
By Bruce Kent
Bruce Kent says he is astonished that decent principled lawyers agreed to have anything to do with the whole system of secret evidence trials which make Control Order detention possible

Hiding behind tradition
By Billy Little
How does the prisoners’ right to vote get past the censorship of the tabloid press, asks Billy Little

Bob Woffinden writes …
By Bob Woffinden
Leading investigative journalist Bob Woffinden examines a murder case where the evidence clearly points to a major miscarriage of justice

‘Great well of psychiatric morbidity’
By Barbara Davis
Barbara Davis challenges the criteria for allocation to Close Supervision Centres and insists that men held in them are being subjected to psychiatric torture

Bank accounts
By Andy Thackwray
In the third instalment of Andy Thackwray’s series following his release from prison earlier this year he reveals problems experienced whilst in prison in opening an external bank account.

Flogging a dead course
By John Roberts
A £240m scheme to treat some of Britain’s most dangerous prisoners should be abandoned.

Month by Month
By Rachel Billington
Rachel pays a visit to Rikers Island and comes out a more thoughtful person, before enjoying nature notes from a prison in Rutland

From Kampala to Castleford
By Andy Thackwray
“Teach the sinner to remove sin, but not to kill the sinner to remove sin. The testimony of a transformed prisoner corrects the broken hearted.” Alex J Nsubuga, Luzira Upper Prison, Kampala (condemned section)

Beyond the Prison Bars: Rehabilitation and the Urban Prison
By Justin Johnston and Sophie Hamilton Grey
Architecture students Justin Johnston and Sophie Hamilton Grey employ an approach they feel represents the best way to deal with the complex issue of prison design

Ben’s Blog
By Ben Gunn
May 8 2010 … theatre of the absurd

The Criminal Justice System in a nutshell
By Jon Collins
An extract of a presentation by Jon Collins, Campaign Director of the Criminal Justice Alliance to the Centre for Parliamentary Studies on May 18 2010

Da’rryl Durr on the death penalty
By Erwin James
In a remarkable interview, Erwin James describes a telephone call from death row in which Da'rryl Durr describes capital punishment as 'murder by the state'.

The good, the bad … and the ugly!
By Michael Fielding
… with apologies to Clint Eastwood In the final instalment of his series for Inside Time, former prisoner Michael Fielding categorises prison officer attitudes and how he reacted to them

Equine assisted learning
By Caroline Sherwood
Caroline Sherwood is convinced that communicating with horses can have enormous benefits for prisoners in terms of enhancing decision making skills

Judicial review – doing it yourself
By Keith Rose
Keith Rose offers a route down which prisoners might consider going in order to prepare their own Judicial Review

A visit to the Scrubs
By Stanley Best
The recent ITV programmes entitled 'Life Behind Bars' will have excited some interest in viewers but were the public at large really better informed thereby? One thing that would, I suspect, have puzzled many was the ratio of Non-Governing Governors (NGG) to every simple prison officer. Non-Governing Governors have always appeared to me a contradiction in terms. Can you imagine a Non-Prime Minister? No wonder prisons are in such a muddled state.

Common humanity
By Shahida Begum
Shahida Begum maintains that legal safeguards and the protection of fundamental rights must be afforded to prisoners by the ECHR

Beware of the men in tights!
By Arshid Khatana
Arshid Khatana is more than a little concerned at the activities of the Regional Asset Recovery Team

Fraud: Tax evasion and money laundering … the new favourites
By Aziz Rahman & Jonathan Lennon
In this short article we consider the law on tax evasion and money laundering – two separate types of offences which are often to be found on the same indictment.

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