Release errors show the sorry state that prisons are in | Letters

John Lovelock and James Stoddart on the woeful state of prisons, caused by funding cuts and lack of support for both inmates and staff I have considerable sympathy with David Lammy’s current predicament (Lammy says he was right not to discuss mistakenly freed prisoner at PMQs, 6 November). Our entire justice system was woefully neglected throughout 14 years of Conservative tenure. But this neglect was particularly calamitous in relation to our prisons. Rectifying the obscenity that currently passes for our prison system will require enormous government investment of public money at a time when public finances are stretched and sympathy for our prison population is low: there are precious few votes in a manifesto promise to improve the lot of prisoners.However, I feel we must look at this disgraceful situation from the standpoint of the poor prison officers who are tasked with working in these dreadful institutions. If conditions in our largely outdated prisons are bad for the inmates, just imagine what it is like having to work in them. It must be incredibly difficult to recruit new staff to the Prison Service and nigh on impossible to retain them, leaving the service dependent on young, inexperienced, demotivated staff with poor morale who are regularly exposed to high levels of verbal and physical abuse. Continue reading...

Comments

Opinions

State sponsored terror: Fraud schemes sent Minn. tax dollars to Somali ‘Qaeda’ group

Newyork Post

Comments

Similar News

On releasing the Epstein files

Democrats’ Epstein email release: Letters to the Editor — Nov. 15, 2025

“Boxes of paperwork” to blame for mistaken prisoner releases

The Guardian view on mistaken prisoner releases: a broken system not human error | Editorial

Letters to the Editor: Releasing animals that can't survive in the wild doesn't help anyone

Opinions

State sponsored terror: Fraud schemes sent Minn. tax dollars to Somali ‘Qaeda’ group

Stand up for Ukraine and deliver a peace deal that doesn’t reward warmonger Putin

It’s high time liberal judges are held accountable for failing to lock up violent career criminals

Harsh realities a weakened Ukraine must face as scandal, troubles loom over Zelensky’s regime

It's child abuse to test puberty blockers on children. Only in a trans fantasy world of pink unicorns could it EVER make sense: SARAH VINE

I received a creepy present and a note that said, 'I feel like I know you.' People tell me I'm fat, disgusting and going to die. I know what's REALLY going on: BRYONY GORDON

DOMINIC LAWSON: The business chiefs who were foolish enough to back Labour have no right to complain now. It's not them I feel sorry for...

ANDREW PIERCE: Now even one of Starmer's whips wants to oust the PM

Pass this small but valuable tweak to NYC’s draconian Airbnb ban

Eric Adams delivers some harsh budget reality for duped Zohran Mamdani backers

NYC has plenty of things to be thankful for this year — our new mayor isn’t one of them

NYC’s perverted justice: Jailing a senior citizen while rapists go free

RUTH SUNDERLAND: Britain's weathervane Chancellor skitters in different directions

Why California’s falling behind even as US jobs rebound

Mamdani’s base wants campus chaos, the left needs a new playbook and other commentary

The radiant 'Australian' beauty trend MILLIONS around the world are obsessed with right now - and how I've mastered it at home: POLISHED with Elise Wilson

The left’s Pavlovian hatreds are blinding them to their politically suicidal choices

Dems’ ‘disobey!’ video: Letters to the Editor — Nov. 24, 2025

Justice delayed: Hidden Holocaust archive must force an art-world reckoning

ALEXANDRA SHULMAN: I was furious when my ex-husband hijacked a family wedding by bringing his new girlfriend. There's a lesson people are missing in family row between Holly Ramsay and Adam Peaty...

My fiancé has been telling me the same lie every night for years. He doesn't know that I've worked it out... must I now dump him, DEAR JANE?

JEFF PRESTRIDGE: A terrifying crash is coming - far worse than the dotcom bubble 25 years ago. Millions will be ruined but these are the simple steps you can take to survive the chaos

Epstein crony Larry Summers empowered the cancel culture that’s taken him down

Dear Abby: Should I apologize for yelling at my daughter’s loser boyfriend?

Michael Goodwin: Trump’s meeting with Mamdani comes as a shock and promise that there is hope for NYC

SARAH VINE: Why, as a fiftysomething divorcee, I and countless women like me are every man's worst nightmare

The Ukraine ‘peace plan’ distracts from the real issue: why Russia’s desperate to keep fighting

MAIL ON SUNDAY COMMENT: Puberty blocker trial turns children into crash-test dummies

Hamas’ refusal to give up leaves peace plan dicey — and Gaza a tinderbox

Hamas is failing Trump’s cease-fire plan — and ‘the future’ of the Middle East is paying the price

TONY HETHERINGTON: I got lawyer barred after a reader lost £500,000 in scam

Fuentes’ vile influence and more: Letters to the Editor — Nov. 23, 2025

Sir Clive Woodward: These are the signs that Steve Borthwick's side are on the way to becoming a champion team - and who I think will be the matchwinner against a tough Argentina side

REVEALED: Inside Labour plot to destroy Starmer. 'It's all anyone talks about,' hears DAN HODGES - as he unmasks No 10's attempts to stop bid by 'Action Man' desperate to oust PM

PETER HITCHENS: I was savagely attacked for opposing Covid lockdowns. But now the elites are plotting to do it to us all over again - and it's going be FAR worse than 2020...

City Council plans to wreck NYC’s housing market in name of affordability, ‘saving’ it

Stabbed in the back and replaced by a TV star, Speakman is the latest casualty in the Liberal death spiral: PVO reveals the scale of the internal catastrophe about to rock the party - and who's next

My wife's heavy drinking is ruining our relationship and sex life. How can I help? DEAR CAROLINE shares how to address the problem without causing fall-out

How can I get rid of these never-ending awful mouth ulcers? DR ELLIE has the answer

'I divorced my awful husband years ago - my daughter still hates him but my granddaughter wants to meet him. Should I help?' Bitter splits wreck families, says BEL MOONEY. I know EXACTLY what you need to do next...

ANDREW NEIL: No amount of arm twisting will stem the tide of licence fee refuseniks - and that's why I believe the BBC's demise is inevitable

BORIS JOHNSON: On Covid there are two big questions: Where did the virus come from - and were the lockdowns worth the terrible price we paid? Baroness Hallett's hopelessly incoherent £200m inquiry failed to answer either

JAN MOIR: My trip to Meghan Markle's pop up shop where even the Montecito set baulk at £24 for a jar of honey!

Why I'm worried about Barron Trump. He's fled Manhattan... and now this! I hope helicopter mom Melania takes my advice: KENNEDY

Jasmine Crockett is on a cringe streak, and I’m here for it

Trump-Mamdani — the start of a beautiful friendship?

Trans lunacy forces women and girls to disrobe in front of men

Kathy Hochul, Zohran Mamdani’s lame responses to harassment of Jews will push them to flee NY

Blame Biden for rising costs, how to make the FAA fly right and other commentary

President Trump’s tariffs are making US manufacturers shudder

EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Cheryl Cole's name stripped from royal youth centre she raised £1million for

ALEX BRUMMER: Wealthier Britons feel heat ahead of Budget

Tisch staying on as NYPD commissioner: Letters to the Editor — Nov. 22, 2025

Congress is wasting time on stupidity — and GOPers will suffer if little gets done

Entitled elites who think they deserve more are secret to Mamdani’s success

Meghan has revealed the alarming depths of her delusion - and exposed herself as insecure, empty and kind of a jerk: MAUREEN CALLAHAN

Ukraine ‘peace treaty’ is as bad as 1938 Munich’s appeasement of Nazis

Why Strictly's going to be cancelled: It's not just shocking rape, cocaine and vile on-set behaviour allegations, says AMANDA PLATELL. The judges and contestants represent the new kind of rot... why's it being silenced

Churches were RIGHT to refuse to help women posing as needy mothers begging for formula who went viral. No one else will say it, says QUENTIN LETTS... but this is why - and the Bible backs me up

Letters to the Editor: L.A. homeless shelter fiasco proves the city's processes need to change