Welcome to the new CAPS website.

We have been meaning to revamp the website for a number of months now and the new information on prison labour contracts in England and Wales provided by Richard Cookson and Phil Chamberlain on their new website prisonlabour.org.uk has finally forced our hand.

THE DAILY EXPRESS NON-STORY

It is typical of the redtops and even the 'quality' Tory press to take cheap shots at prisoners and to generally bang the 'hang 'em, flog 'em' drum, but the Express have excelled themselves with the 'Scandal As Prisoners Claim £100m In Benefits' non-story. The article is laughable; so farcical we all should be rolling in the aisles in stitches, if it was not for the fact that the Express' readers just lap up this sort of disinformation as it panders to their ignorance and anti-prisoner prejudices. [08/03/10]

BEAM PARK WEST PRISON SITE REJECTED

Plans for the building of one of the government's 'mini-Titan' prisons at the old Beam Park West Ford's factory site in Barking, East London, have been dropped according to the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) in statement on 12 February. The main reason cited was "the potential cost of mitigating flood risk". This is no surprise as the site is only 4 metres above sea level - the adjacent road being called Marsh Way is a bit of a giveaway! [18/02/10]

ROBERT HILLARY KING & DR. TERRY KUPERS - SLAVERY IN U.S. PRISONS: AN INTERVIEW

We are posting part 3 of an interview with Angola 3 member Robert King and forensic psychiatrist Dr. Terry Kupers, an expert on prisons and prisoner's mental health, as part of our Prison Texts section. This video covers forced prison labour in the States with particular regards to Angola prison itself.

ANOTHER DISTURBANCE AT HMP ADDIEWELL

Two prison officers were injured in yet another disturbance at HMP Addiewell in West Lothian last night. The incident happen on the same Lomond B Hall as last November's incident and involved either 10 "actively" involved prisoners or "more than 100 inmates" depending on whether one believes the official Lothian and Borders police statement or the Evening Times ('Scotland's top selling evening paper'). [26/01/10]

RETURN OF THE PRISON HULKS?

The Tories' prison plans for the next parliament, should they be voted in, appear to have sunk even further into the mire. They have already had to drop their plans to gazump Labour's prison building plans by 5,000 new places because of certain accounting difficulties, a combination of their miscalculating the amount of money they could realistically raise from their idea to sell off 30 Victorian inner city prisons (most of which are listed buildings) to finance the plans and the global financial crisis, or as Cameron would like to have it Labour had already “adopted our policy.” [24/01/10]

STATE OF EMERGENCY DECLARED IN ITALIAN PRISONS

The Italian government have declared a year-long state of emergency in its prison system. This is because the Italian prison system is in crisis. The prison population currently stand at 64,910, its highest level since 1946, and it is housed in jails built for only 43,480. [14/01/10]

REHABILITATION, NOT INCARCERATION?

According to Channel 4 News, the Tories 'cast iron' pledge to increase prison places by 5,000, funded by the sale of 30 Victorian inner city prisons if elected next year, appears to have suffered a sudden reality check. Obviously having seen the transformation of the old Oxford Castle nick into the Malmaison Hotel, David Cameron thought that this was a realistic option to raise £250m to fund a massive increase in prison places in order to to bring an end to the current Government's automatic early release scheme. [03/12/09]

DAY RELEASE FROM OPEN PRISON SHOCK HORROR

In the grand tradition of ill informed tabloid coverage of prison stories comes the Daily Mail story (also covered in the Telegraph) 'Prison raffles off a day out to inmates for a £1 a ticket' The story is that prisoners in the Category D open prison HMP Kirkham who volunteer to cook Christmas dinner for the elderly residents of Milbanke Day Centre will be eligible to buy £1 tickets in a raffle. No problem there except in the eyes of the Mail (and Telegraph) and of rent-a-quote Glyn Travis, assistant general secretary of the POA, because the top prize is a day release. Shock horror. Category D prisoners being allowed out of prison on day release. What next? [26/11/09]

INANE HEADLINE OF THE DECADE

'So Why Doesn't Anyone Get Sent To Jail Any More?' - courtesy of the Daily Mirror. Clearly the do not realise that England and Wales (with 154 people in prison per 100,000 of the general population*) and Scotland (153 per 100,000) lock up more people that any other Western European countries, apart from Spain (164 per 100,000) and Luxembourg (155 per 100,000). And the current prison population in England and Wales is 84,681, up 1,542 on this time last year. So clearly people are still getting sent to prison! [22/11/09]

* Figures for October 2009, from the World Prison Brief.

WALTON WILDCAT ACTION SPREADS

As the walkout by prison officers at Walton jail enters its second day, the unofficial strike has spread with HMPs Risley, Lancaster Castle, The Verne and YOI Lancaster Farms also apparently out in sympathy, with other prisons including HMPs Kennet, Preston, Wandsworth and Cardiff also holding lunchtime meetings. [18/11/09]

NO ONE GETS THE CHOP OVER GHOSTING SAGA

It appears that no one will loose their jobs over the Wandsworth and Pentonville 'ghosting for inspections' saga that blew up at the end of August. The incidents occurred in May and June this year when vulnerable but disruptive prisoners were transferred prior to announced prison inspections. [12/11/09]

WAS IT THE PORRIDGE OR WAS IT THE VISITS?

On Monday the Liverpool Echo published a story headlined 'Changes To Breakfast Menu And Prison Visits Cause ‘Absolute Chaos’ At Liverpool Walton Jail', ostensibly about prisoners being "furious" about their choice of eggs or cereal for breakfast being replaced by the choice of "porridge for breakfast or starve", as one prisoners was alleged to have been told when he complained. [10/11/09]

HMP BRIXTON GHOSTED PRISONERS TOO

HMP Brixton has now been confirmed as being involved in the 'ghosting for inspections' scandal that has already engulfed Wandsworth and Pentonville. According to Napo, about half a dozen high security Category A and Category E (those considered high escape risks) were moved prior to a Prison Service internal security audit earlier this year. Removing a number of 'high risk' prisoners would have the effect boosting the potential security audit score for this overcrowded Category B prison. [08/11/09]