The Welsh Affairs Committee has joined the broad range of voices calling for cuts to prison education in English prisons to be reversed.
We gave evidence to this inquiry and it’s good to see our key points echoed in the report.
committees.parliament.uk/committee/16...
Population pressures, staffing challenges and overcrowding have undermined staff and prisoner safety and the effectiveness of rehabilitation across the prison estate in England and Wales, the Welsh Af...
📋 Eight prisons in the West Midlands have finally been appointed an education supplier after an initial failed procurement process.
https://feweek.co.uk/novus-selected-again-to-deliver-west-midlands-prison-education/
The training provider has retained eight prisons in the region following a tender re-run
This is a good assessment of the many challenges facing youth custody, including in providing high quality education to young people who've had very disrupted experiences of school.
(And I'm always amazed by the fact that 20% of young people in secure settings went to the same six schools.)
Good to see that education at Downview has been rated 'good' by Ofsted, in a broadly positive report.
This follows a positive report a couple of months ago on Low Newton and an encouraging update from HMIP on the women's estate generally (bit.ly/4dQgXJi).
If more access to positive activities in prison will reduce drug use, then why cut education provision by 25%?
insidetime.org/newsround/mo...
I love this series of profiles of independent landlords in London by @andrewkersley.bsky.social and @petercarlyon.bsky.social for @londonermag.bsky.social.
It's just nice to have some positive news at the moment!
www.the-londoner.co.uk/londons-youn...
Really encouraging @hmiprisonsnews.bsky.social report on HMP Wayland today. They've gone from 'poor' to 'reasonably good' on purposeful activity, which is impressive progress, and been rated as 'good' overall by Ofsted.
hmiprisons.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmipris_repo...
In this interview focused on a visit to HMP Styal, the prisons minister Lord Timpson rightly notes that education helps people get a job.
But education at Styal has just been cut by 30%. Given the cost of reoffending this is the very definition of a false economy.
observer.co.uk/news/nationa...
Congratulations (belatedly) to Dr Leonie Smith and Dr @jonbebb.bsky.social on winning the @thebpa.bsky.social's inaugural prize for 'Teaching Philosophy in the Community' for their work teaching philosophy in prison. It's good to see this sort of work being recognised.
bpa.ac.uk/prizes2026/
Jon Collins
FE Week
The head of the Prison Service in England and Wales has told MPs that offering prisoners more activities and more time out of their cells will help to tackle the problem of drugs in jails. James Mc…
On a stroll around Styal jail in Cheshire, the prisons minister discusses jobs for ex-offenders, support for women inmates and why he has no political ambitions
observer.co.uk
The British Philosophical Association is delighted to celebrate the inaugural recipients of our new BPA Prizes. These awards were established to recognise and promote the outstanding breadth, depth, a...
I wrote about the shocking state of youth justice:
- 2/3 reoffend
- 1/5 of kids in YOIs went to same 6 schools
- 2/3 grew up in care
- 61% have experienced violence in custody
- 3/4 have history of persistent absence
- YOI costs double Eton but only 20% pass GCSEs
observer.co.uk/news/politic...
HMP & YOI Downview: safe and well run, but more needed to help women progress.
Read the report: hmiprisons.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmipris_repo...
And press notice: hmiprisons.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/news/reports...
See the healthy prison scores:
Lenient sentences handed to two teenage rapists have sparked fury but the government says it does not want to jail children. How does it square the circle?
