DOCSLIB.ORG

Locked up Potential a Strategy for Reforming Prisons and Rehabilitating Prisoners

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Locked up Potential a Strategy for Reforming Prisons and Rehabilitating Prisoners Breakthrough Britain Locked Up Potential A strategy for reforming prisons and rehabilitating prisoners A Policy Report by the Prison Reform Working Group Chaired by Jonathan Aitken March 2009 About the Centre for Social Justice The Centre for Social Justice aims to put social justice at the heart of British politics. Our policy development is rooted in the wisdom of those working to tackle Britain’s deepest social problems and the experience of those whose lives have been affected by poverty. Our working groups are non-partisan, comprising prominent academics, practitioners and policy makers who have expertise in the relevant fields. We consult nationally and internationally, especially with charities and social enterprises, who are the the champions of the welfare society. In addition to policy development, the CSJ has built an alliance of poverty fighting organisations that reverse social breakdown and transform communities. We believe that the surest way the Government can reverse social breakdown and poverty is to enable such individuals, communities and voluntary groups to help themselves. The CSJ was founded by Iain Duncan Smith in 2004, as the fulfilment of a promise made to Janice Dobbie, whose son had recently died from a drug overdose just after he was released from prison. Chairman: Rt Hon Iain Duncan Smith MP Executive Director: Philippa Stroud Breakthrough Britain: Locked Up Potential © The Centre for Social Justice, 2009 Published by the Centre for Social Justice, 9 Westminster Palace Gardens, Artillery Row, SW1P 1RL www.centreforsocialjustice.org.uk ISBN: 978-0-9556999-8-6 Designed by SoapBox, www.soapboxcommunications.co.uk Our thanks to The Nehemiah Project for the photographs on pages 21,70,103,140,164,180,191,202, and Warwick Sweeney for the photographs on pages 22 and 151. This report represents the views of the working group as a whole and does not reflect at every point the individual opinion of each and every working group member. 2 Contents Preface by Iain Duncan Smith 7 Chairman’s Foreword 9 Members of the Prison Reform Working Group 15 Summary of Policy Proposals 20 Chapter 1: Introduction 29 1.1 What is the purpose of prison? 29 1.2 Picking up the pieces of social breakdown 31 1.3 The prison estate and current trends 33 1.4 The cost of re-offending 39 1.5 The policy-making context 40 1.6 More of the same is not an option 44 Chapter 2: Restructuring our prisons 45 2.1 Administrative caution and political paralysis 45 2.2 The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) 45 2.3 Her Majesty’s Prison Service (HMPS) 49 2.4 National Probation Service (NPS) 54 2.5 The private sector 56 2.6 The voluntary and community sector (VCS) 59 2.7 Executive Release from prison 60 2.8 Policy recommendations 62 Chapter 3: Easing the overcrowding crisis 88 3.1 The scale of overcrowding 88 3.2 The causes of overcrowding 90 3.3 The effects of overcrowding 94 3.4 Emergency measures 95 3.5 Population projections 96 3.6 Prison estate expansion 96 3.7 Policy recommendations 101 Chapter 4: Mental health and substance abuse 105 4.1 Mental health 105 4.1.7 Policy recommendations 113 3 4.2 Drugs in prison 116 4.2.6 Policy recommendations 129 4.3 Alcohol in prison 137 4.3.4 Policy recommendations 141 Chapter 5: Supporting families 143 5.1 The family 143 5.2 Overlooked and ignored 144 5.3 Supporting families to reduce re-offending 145 5.4 A child’s perspective 145 5.5 Existing support for families of prisoners 146 5.6 Prison facilities 147 5.7 The impact of prison overcrowding on family relationships 148 5.8 Voluntary and Community Sector support 149 5.9 Policy recommendations 151 Chapter 6: Personal development through education, training, work and other opportunities in prison 155 6.1 Prison education and training 156 6.1.5 Policy recommendations 171 6.2 Prisoner development through the Arts 176 6.2.2 Policy recommendations 179 6.3 Prison work 180 6.3.3 Policy recommendations 186 Chapter 7: Prisoners and their victims 191 7.1 Prisoners and their victims 191 7.2 Making prisoners aware of their victims 191 7.3 Victim Impact Classes (VICs) 192 7.4 Compulsory financial reparations for victims 192 7.5 Restorative Justice (RJ) conferences 193 7.5.5 Policy recommendations 197 Chapter 8: Leaving prison 199 8.1 Preparing to re-enter society 199 8.2 An immediate barrier: the prisoner finance gap 200 8.3 Pre- and post-release mentoring schemes 202 8.4 Finding accommodation 207 8.5 Finding employment 214 8.6 Policy recommendations 221 4 Chapter 9: A new programme for government 242 9.1 Setting the agenda 242 9.2 Explaining the new strategy to the public 243 9.3 Passing the essential parliamentary legislation 244 9.4 Co-operating with the Treasury 245 9.5 Involving local communities and voluntary sector organisations 248 9.6 Conclusion 248 Chapter 10: Appendix one: Community Prison Rehabilitation Trusts (CPRTs) 251 10.1 A CPRT for Wales 251 10.2 A CPRT for Devon and Cornwall 252 10.3 A CPRT for Avon and Somerset 253 10.4 A CPRT for Teeside 254 Chapter 11: Appendix two: Prison Design – The Mitson Academy Model 256 Chapter 12: Appendix three: The Intermediate Training Centre (ITC) 261 Bibliography 262 Glossary 268 Special Thanks 270 5 Preface Iain Duncan Smith I established The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) to find policy solutions for entrenched social breakdown in Britain. The CSJ champions the cause of people trapped in our disadvantaged communities, often forgotten by politicians. In our reports Breakdown Britain and Breakthrough Britain we identified five key pathways to poverty – family breakdown; economic dependency and worklessness; educational failure; addiction; and personal indebtedness. Our 190 recommendations to reverse this strangling cycle of dependency are based on the life-changing work of voluntary sector groups in our most broken communities. I commissioned this Prison Reform Review because the criminal justice system, particularly our overflowing prison system, picks up the pieces of this breakdown on a daily basis. Each of the five pathways to poverty has fuelled an unprecedented prison population increase in the last decade: most of the 83,000 people in prison have a reading and writing ability of an eleven year old child; almost 70 per cent were workless prior to imprisonment; the majority are drug and alcohol abusers; a third have been in care; the vast majority have mental health problems and three-quarters of all young offenders are from lone parent families. Curing the social ills that start so many of our young on a path to criminality is the purpose of the CSJ and should be the purpose of the government. Even when someone is sent to prison, the government fails in its mission to reduce crime because of the spectacular failure of prisons to rehabilitate offenders – work that should be the heartbeat of the system. That over two thirds of prisoners leave prison and return to a life of crime, only to find themselves back behind bars within two years, is unacceptable. Any business model with this Return on Investment would quickly find itself in liquidation. This expensive failure costs society at least £12 billion a year and leaves our streets in too many communities, no go areas. Operationally our prison system is a familiar case of mass public investment devoid of a coherent strategy. The government’s National Offender Management Service (NOMS), one of whose primary tasks was to cut the re- offending rate, has spent more than £18 billion since 2004, to little or no effect. The reoffending rate is still high at up to 75 per cent of young offenders returning to prison within two years. 7 Locked Up Potential The Government’s response to this failure is to build a number of prisons, so large that they have called them Titans. There is no evidence that such massive prisons do anything but feed the problem of re-offending: the £1.3 billion earmarked for these will be wasted money, as all involved in the reform of the prison system say they are illogical. While I am angered by government’s mismanagement of our prisons, I am encouraged by the number of life-changing voluntary and community groups giving offenders a chance to change. These groups, led by passionate social entrepreneurs, are the flickering hope of many. I think of Beyond the Gate, freeing prisoners of alcohol addiction in South West England; Prison Advice and Care Trust, keeping families together during a sentence; and Toe by Toe, teaching other prisoners to read. It is working with these voluntary sector organisations that has enabled the Prison Reform working group to make more than 70 recommendations for reform across almost every area of prison policy. These vital proposals stem not from pre-conceived ideology but from wide-ranging consultation with prison and rehabilitation experts, based on facts, and led by a working group brimming with experience. We held more than 60 hours of public hearings; received more than 50 written submissions; made numerous prison, project and conference visits; and undertook two international trips. My thanks to Jonathan Aitken and all the members of the team for all their hard and vital work. The implementation of this strategy to reform our prisons and rehabilitate our prisoners becomes more important during a recession, not less. The cost of inaction, at least £12 billion a year, is grave. I call on the Government to listen, learn and act. There is no time to waste.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Inside Books Project Resource Guide
    INSIDE BOOKS PROJECT RESOURCE GUIDE ABOUT INSIDE BOOKS PROJECT 2 LEGAL RESOURCES 15 CONTESTING BOOK DENIALS 2 L-G-B-T RESOURCES 19 ARTIST AND WRITER RESOURCES 2 PAROLE & PRE-RELEASE 21 BOOKS-TO-PRISONERS PROJECTS 3 PEN PAL PROGRAMS 23 DEATH PENALTY RESOURCES 5 PRISONER SUPPORT 24 EDUCATION 7 PUBLICATIONS & NEWSLETTERS 26 FAMILY RESOURCES 8 RELIGIOUS & SPIRITUAL 28 HEALTH RESOURCES 10 RESOURCES FOR VETERANS 30 IMMIGRATION RESOURCES 12 RESOURCES FOR WOMEN 31 INFORMACIÓN EN ESPAÑOL 14 Updated January 2020 About Inside Books Project the Mail System Coordinators Panel in Huntsville. Pages cited by the mailroom as Based in Austin, Texas, Inside Books inappropriate are reviewed and if the book Project is an all-volunteer, nonprofi t is denied, it takes a permanent place on organization that sends free books and the banned book list. educational materials to people in Texas prisons. Inside Books Project works to If the panel choose to censor the book, a promote reading, literacy, and education mailroom offi cial is responsible for notifying among incarcerated individuals and to you and informing you of the appeals educate the general public on issues of process. Many books are banned simply incarceration. because they are not appealed, and this means the book will be denied to everyone INSIDE BOOKS PROJECT else in the TDCJ. We encourage you to PO Box 301029 contest your publication denials, not only Austin, TX 78703 for your own sake but for other prisoners [email protected] who may request the same title. insidebooksproject.org Book denials in a federal unit may be easier to challenge.
    [Show full text]
  • Annual Renewal of Control Orders Legislation 2010
    House of Lords House of Commons Joint Committee on Human Rights Counter–Terrorism Policy and Human Rights (Sixteenth Report): Annual Renewal of Control Orders Legislation 2010 Ninth Report of Session 2009–10 Report, together with formal minutes, and oral and written evidence Ordered by The House of Commons to be printed 23 February 2010 Ordered by The House of Lords to be printed 23 February 2010 HL Paper 64 HC 395 Published on Friday 26 February 2010 by authority of the House of Commons London: The Stationery Office Limited £0.00 Joint Committee on Human Rights The Joint Committee on Human Rights is appointed by the House of Lords and the House of Commons to consider matters relating to human rights in the United Kingdom (but excluding consideration of individual cases); proposals for remedial orders made under Section 10 of and laid under Schedule 2 to the Human Rights Act 1998; and in respect of draft remedial orders and remedial orders, whether the special attention of the House should be drawn to them on any of the grounds specified in Standing Order No. 73 (Lords)/151 (Commons) (Statutory Instruments (Joint Committee)). The Joint Committee has a maximum of six Members appointed by each House, of whom the quorum for any formal proceedings is three from each House. Current membership HOUSE OF LORDS HOUSE OF COMMONS Lord Bowness Mr Andrew Dismore MP (Labour, Hendon) (Chairman) Lord Dubs Dr Evan Harris MP (Liberal Democrat, Oxford West & Baroness Falkner of Margravine Abingdon) Lord Morris of Handsworth OJ Ms Fiona MacTaggart (Labour, Slough) The Earl of Onslow Mr Virendra Sharma MP (Labour, Ealing, Southall) Baroness Prashar Mr Richard Shepherd MP (Conservative, Aldridge-Brownhills) Mr Edward Timpson MP (Conservative, Crewe & Nantwich) Powers The Committee has the power to require the submission of written evidence and documents, to examine witnesses, to meet at any time (except when Parliament is prorogued or dissolved), to adjourn from place to place, to appoint specialist advisers, and to make Reports to both Houses.
    [Show full text]
  • Identity, Authority and Myth-Making: Politically-Motivated Prisoners and the Use of Music During the Northern Irish Conflict, 1962 - 2000
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Queen Mary Research Online Identity, authority and myth-making: Politically-motivated prisoners and the use of music during the Northern Irish conflict, 1962 - 2000 Claire Alexandra Green Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 1 I, Claire Alexandra Green, confirm that the research included within this thesis is my own work or that where it has been carried out in collaboration with, or supported by others, that this is duly acknowledged below and my contribution indicated. Previously published material is also acknowledged below. I attest that I have exercised reasonable care to ensure that the work is original, and does not to the best of my knowledge break any UK law, infringe any third party’s copyright or other Intellectual Property Right, or contain any confidential material. I accept that the College has the right to use plagiarism detection software to check the electronic version of the thesis. I confirm that this thesis has not been previously submitted for the award of a degree by this or any other university. The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without the prior written consent of the author. Signature: Date: 29/04/19 Details of collaboration and publications: ‘It’s All Over: Romantic Relationships, Endurance and Loyalty in the Songs of Northern Irish Politically-Motivated Prisoners’, Estudios Irlandeses, 14, 70-82. 2 Abstract. In this study I examine the use of music by and in relation to politically-motivated prisoners in Northern Ireland, from the mid-1960s until 2000.
    [Show full text]
  • The Prisoners of New York
    LIHJ — Founded by Roger Wunderlich in 1988 published by the Center for Global & Local History a unit of the Stony Brook Institute for Global Studies Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794-3380 ISSN 0898-7084 Editor in Chief Associate Editor Associate Editor Editor at Large Charles Backfish Noel Gish Joshua Ruff Wolf Schäfer HOME ABOUT LIHJ LIHJ BOARD AUTHORS RESOURCES SEARCH SUBSCRIBE Volume 22, Issue 2, Summer 2011 The Prisoners of New York Edwin G. Burrows Brooklyn College Abstract: New York City was occupied by the British for the duration of the Revolutionary War. Tens of thousands of American insurgents, civilian as well as military, were detained in and around Manhattan, the great majority under scandalously horrible conditions. As many as 18,000 may have perished--nearly three times as many as the number who died in battle. For a number of reasons, including the Anglo-American rapprochement that began around the turn of the 20th century, historians have generally downplayed the magnitude of the disaster. Keywords: American Revolution, prisoners of war, the Jersey, prison ships, Wallabout Bay, George Washington, William Howe, Ethan Allen Editor’s Note Professor Burrows presented this talk at a symposium, “The American Revolution on Long Island and in New York City,” held at Stony Brook University on October 4, 2010, and co-sponsored by the Three Village Historical Society, the LIHJ, and Stony Brook University. The LIHJ includes the talk as it was delivered by Professor Burrows so this format will not contain the citations usually accompanying articles in the journal. However, since his talk made significant use of two diaries written by Long Island residents, Professor Burrows offers the following references for readers who might find them of interest: [Anon.], Journal of Dr.
    [Show full text]
  • Contractual Management of Custodial Services in the United Kingdom
    Contractual Management of Custodial Services in the United Kingdom TIM WILSON This chapter reviews the provision of custodial services by the private sector under the Conservative governments in power in the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1997. This account of govern- ment policy in the United Kingdom, since it was written in July 1996, could not anticipate government policy after the election of a Labour Government in May 1997; an indication of the ap- proach to prison management that the new Government may take is given in appendix A. The development of contractual management—a term more appropriate than “privatization” for the approach taken in the United Kingdom—occurred in three phases: (1) the debate and passage of legislation (1987–1992); (2) the introduction of contractually managed prisons and court escort services (1992–1995); Notes will be found on page 90. 63 64 Privatizing Correctional Services (3) the letting of contracts under the Government’s Private Fi- nance Initiative (PFI) for the private design, construction, management, and financing of prisons (DCMF) (1995– 1997). Background Her Majesty’s Prison Service is the only penal service within England and Wales entrusted with criminal and the small num- ber of civil prisoners. It is also responsible for some immigra- tion detainees (others are held by contractors1 appointed directly by the Immigration Service or that service itself). There are separate prison services responsible for Scotland and North- ern Ireland but, while these have contracted some functional services such as catering and building maintenance, at the time of writing they have not awarded any contracts for the manage- ment of prisons.
    [Show full text]
  • Women Mps in Westminster Photographs Taken May 21St, June 3Rd, June 4Th, 2008
    “The House of Commons Works of Art Collection documents significant moments in Parliamentary history. We are delighted to have added this unique photographic record of women MPs of today, to mark the 90th anniversary of women first being able to take their seats in this House” – Hugo Swire, Chairman, The Speaker's Advisory Committee on Works of Art. “The day the Carlton Club accepted women” – 90 years after women first got the vote aim to ensure that a more enduring image of On May 21st 2008 over half of all women women's participation in the political process Members of Parliament in Westminster survives. gathered party by party to have group photographs taken to mark the anniversary of Each party gave its permission for the 90 years since women first got the vote (in photographs to be taken. For the Labour February 1918 women over 30 were first Party, Barbara Follett MP, the then Deputy granted the vote). Minister for Women and Equality, and Barbara Keeley MP, who was Chair of the Labour Party Women’s Committee and The four new composite Caroline Adams, who works for the photographs taken party by Parliamentary Labour Party helped ensure that all but 12 of the Labour women party aim to ensure that a attended. more enduring image of For the Conservative women's participation in the Party, The Shadow Leader of the House of political process survives Commons and Shadow Minister for Until now the most often used photographic Women, Theresa May image of women MPs had been the so called MP and the Chairman “Blair Babes” picture taken on 7th May 1997 of the Conservative shortly after 101 Labour women were elected Party, Caroline to Westminster as a result of positive action by Spelman MP, enlisted the Labour Party.
    [Show full text]
  • Download (9MB)
    A University of Sussex PhD thesis Available online via Sussex Research Online: http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/ This thesis is protected by copyright which belongs to the author. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Please visit Sussex Research Online for more information and further details 2018 Behavioural Models for Identifying Authenticity in the Twitter Feeds of UK Members of Parliament A CONTENT ANALYSIS OF UK MPS’ TWEETS BETWEEN 2011 AND 2012; A LONGITUDINAL STUDY MARK MARGARETTEN Mark Stuart Margaretten Submitted for the degree of Doctor of PhilosoPhy at the University of Sussex June 2018 1 Table of Contents TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................................................ 1 DECLARATION .................................................................................................................................. 4 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...................................................................................................................... 5 FIGURES ........................................................................................................................................... 6 TABLES ............................................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Commissioning Brief 2020 FACTUAL (Including Arts) Proposals for Specific Ideas
    RADIO COMMISSIONING FRAMEWORK Commissioning Brief 2020 FACTUAL (including arts) Proposals for specific ideas Production of factual programmes Commissions mainly for broadcast from April 2021 to March 2022 Proteus 2021-2022 Round 1 Version 1 18.06.2020 LL 1 of 36 CONTENTS ............................................................................................................................................. 1 SECTION A: ABOUT RADIO 4 ............................................................................................. 3 SECTION B: TIMETABLE ........................................................................................................ 4 SECTION C: THE COMMISSIONING PROCESS ..................................................... 5 STAGE 1: SHORT PROPOSAL ....................................................................................... 5 STAGE 2: FULL PROPOSAL .......................................................................................... 7 STAGE 3: CONDITIONAL COMMISSION ..................................................................... 9 SECTION D: EDITORIAL OPPORTUNITIES ................................................................ 11 Version 1 18.06.2020 LL 2 of 36 SECTION A: ABOUT RADIO 4 Radio 4 Radio 4 is unique in the breadth and quality of its informative, educational and entertaining programming. Every day, on air and online, Radio 4 has more original content than any other broadcaster in the world. Its authoritative news and current affairs journalism is complemented by programmes exploring
    [Show full text]
  • Saturday, July 7, 2018 | 15 | WATCH Monday, July 9
    6$785'$<-8/< 7+,6,6123,&1,& _ )22' ,16,'( 7+,6 :((. 6+233,1* :,1(6 1$',<$ %5($.6 &KHFNRXW WKH EHVW LQ ERWWOH 683(50$5.(7 %(67 %8<6 *UDE WKH ODWHVW GHDOV 75,(' $1' 7(67(' $// 7+( 58/(6 :H FKHFN RXW WRS WUDYHO 1$',<$ +XVVDLQ LV D KDLUGU\HUV WR ORRN ZDQWDQGWKDW©VZK\,IHHOVR \RXGRQ©WHDWZKDW\RX©UHJLYHQ WRWDO UXOHEUHDNHU OXFN\§ WKHQ \RX JR WR EHG KXQJU\§ JRRG RQ WKH PRYH WKHVH GD\V ¦,©P D 6KH©V ZRQ 7KLV UHFLSH FROOHFWLRQ DOVR VHHV /XFNLO\ VKH DQG KXVEDQG $EGDO SDUW RI WZR YHU\ %DNH 2II SXW KHU IOLS D EDNHG FKHHVHFDNH KDYH PDQDJHG WR SURGXFH RXW D VOHZ RI XSVLGH GRZQ PDNH D VLQJOH FKLOGUHQ WKDW DUHQ©W IXVV\HDWHUV GLIIHUHQW ZRUOGV ¤ ,©P %ULWLVK HFODLU LQWR D FRORVVDO FDNH\UROO VR PXFK VR WKDW WKH ZHHN EHIRUH 5(/$; DQG ,©P %DQJODGHVKL§ WKH FRRNERRNV DQG LV DOZD\V LQYHQW D ILVK ILQJHU ODVDJQH ZH FKDW VKH KDG DOO WKUHH *$0(6 $336 \HDUROG H[SODLQV ¦DQG UHDOO\ VZDS WKH SUDZQ LQ EHJJLQJ KHU WR GROH RXW IUDJUDQW &RQMXUH XS RQ WKH WHOO\ ¤ SUDZQ WRDVW IRU FKLFNHQ DQG ERZOIXOV RI ILVK KHDG FXUU\ EHFDXVH ,©P SDUW RI WKHVH 1DGL\D +XVVDLQ PDJLFDO DWPRVSKHUH WZR DPD]LQJ ZRUOGV , KDYH ¦VSLNH§ D GLVK RI PDFDURQL ¦7KH\ ZHUH DOO RYHU LW OLNH WHOOV (//$ FKHHVH ZLWK SLFFDOLOOL ¤ WKH ¨0XPP\ 3OHDVH FDQ ZH KDYH 086,& QR UXOHV DQG QR UHVWULFWLRQV§ :$/.(5 WKDW 5(/($6(6 ZRPDQ©V D PDYHULFN WKDW ULJKW QRZ"© , ZDV OLNH ¨1R +HQFH ZK\ WKUHH \HDUV RQ IURP IRRG LV PHDQW +RZHYHU KHU DSSURDFK WR WKDW©V WRPRUURZ©V GLQQHU ,©YH :H OLVWHQ WR WKH ZLQQLQJ *UHDW %ULWLVK %DNH 2II WR EH IXQ FODVKLQJDQG PL[LQJ IODYRXUVDQG MXVW FRRNHG LW HDUO\ \RX©YH JRW ODWHVW DOEXPV WKH /XWRQERUQ
    [Show full text]
  • OBV 15 YEARS of CHANGE  OBV Is Now on Facebook
    SPECIAL ANNIVERSARY ISSUE SUMMER 2011 OBV 15 YEARS OF CHANGE OBV is now on Facebook. Join our group. Stay Informed. ‘If you don’t vote’ London Mayor and GLA election poster TRIBUTE launch 2008. (from left to right:) Francine I have come to the end of a fantastic 10 year Fernandes, Simon Woolley, Richard journey with OBV. I arrived in 2001 to offer Sudan, Winsome-Grace my services as a volunteer and got a small but Cornish, Leon Green, unexpected paycheck the end of the month. Ashok Viswanathan, US intern Celina Chan and Faz Hakim. It’s been a rollercoaster ride – the anxiety before thousands arrive for an event and tremendous high when happy smiling faces leave the venue. Over the years our small team has done a Christmas in Rome tremendous amount of work, which is nowhere 2006: Staff on a one day near captured in this special 15 year anniversary trip to see the ruins – Louise Alexander, Ashok magazine. There is still an enormous task ahead, Viswanathan, Sanjay and the hard work continues by the dedicated Mistry, Faz Hakim, Leon team, including volunteers and interns, both local Green, Rafiq Maricar, Francine Fernandes. and international whose invaluable help and enthusiasm spurs us all, urged on by our Director to ‘worry the work like a dog worries a bone’. I have worked alongside a great number of awesome people who have generously supported OBV’s work, and on behalf of the team I take this opportunity to pay tribute to the thousands who Contents have taken part in our programmes; to those who have become magistrates, politicians or P 4 OBV’s 15 year celebration! appointed to serve in boardrooms around the Simon Woolley tells the inside story about how OBV country; to those who have tried for elected was formed – and how it powers black politics today.
    [Show full text]
  • 'Genocide' in Biafra
    Karen E. Smith The UK and ‘genocide’ in Biafra Article (Accepted version) (Refereed) Original citation: Smith, Karen E. (2014) The UK and ‘genocide’ in Biafra. Journal of Genocide Research, 16 (2- 3). pp. 247-262. ISSN 1462-3528 DOI: 10.1080/14623528.2014.936703 © 2014 Routledge This version available at: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/59261/ Available in LSE Research Online: August 2014 LSE has developed LSE Research Online so that users may access research output of the School. Copyright © and Moral Rights for the papers on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. Users may download and/or print one copy of any article(s) in LSE Research Online to facilitate their private study or for non-commercial research. You may not engage in further distribution of the material or use it for any profit-making activities or any commercial gain. You may freely distribute the URL (http://eprints.lse.ac.uk) of the LSE Research Online website. This document is the author’s final accepted version of the journal article. There may be differences between this version and the published version. You are advised to consult the publisher’s version if you wish to cite from it. The UK and ‘genocide’ in Biafra By Karen E. Smith Abstract In late August 1968, following a British proposal, Nigeria announced it would allow an International Observer Team into the country to show that it was not pursuing a campaign of genocide in Biafra. This article analyses why the United Kingdom pushed for the creation of the observer team, and shows how the team’s work was incorporated into the government’s justifications for its support of the Nigerian government.
    [Show full text]
  • Should We Build More Prisons? 1129 Words
    Should we build more prisons? 1129 words Pat Strickland Key Issues for the New Parliament 2010 SECURITY AND LIBERTY House of Commons Library Research Does prison work and can we afford it? The prison population has been rising, with an especially sharp increase since the mid 1990s. The Ministry of Justice attributes this to: Should we build more prisons? courts sentencing more offenders to prison each year between 1995 and 2002; Pat Strickland offenders staying in prison for longer, because of longer sentences and a decline in parole rates; and Does prison work and can we afford it? tougher enforcement following release, leading to more recalls for longer periods. Commission on English Prisons Today The prison population has been rising, with Prison population has risen KEY STATISTICS an especially sharp increase since the mid (whose president was Cherie Booth), the sharply since the mid-1990s Prison population in England and 1990s. The Ministry of Justice attributes this 100,000 Prison Reform Working Group (chaired by Wales reached a record level of almost to: Jonathan Aitken), the Conservative Party and 85,000 in April 2010, an increase of the National Audit Office. Questions raised courts sentencing more offenders to 80,000 90% since 1993 include: prison each year between 1995 and 2002; The prison estate has been Could we get better value for money by overcrowded since 1994 offenders staying in prison for longer, 60,000 “reinvesting” some of the money spent because of longer sentences and a decline In 2008/09 it cost an average of on prisons, either in other parts of the £39,600 to keep a prisoner in prison in parole rates; and 40,000 criminal justice system (such as community for a year sentences) or on activities that prevent tougher enforcement following release, The UK has the second highest crime in the first place? leading to more recalls for longer periods.
    [Show full text]