Week 6: Justice Gap

Prison reforms to rehabilitate offenders won’t stop re-offending

Following the prison riots at HMP Maidstone this week, I was intrigued by the cause. The riots occurred a day after the Government enforced changes to the Incentive and Earned privilege scheme. It was suspected that the clampdown on prison perks was the cause behind the riots. I wanted to look into this further, and address the question whether prisons should be there to punish prisoners, or rehabilitate them. I wrote an article on Chris Graylings rulings, but tried to move the story on by addresses whether it was actually going to help. I got in contact with the Prison Reform Trust to interview someone there who was willing to comment. Speaking with the Head of Policy and Communication, Mark Day I was able to include original quotes in my article, and give the story a fresh top line.

With this article, I tried to localise it by seeing whether there were any signs of any rebellious activity in Winchester Prison, however speaking with the Governor I was informed that HMP Winchester fully prepared the offenders in advance, and that they were aware of the changes months prior. Following this phone conversation I set up an in-studio interview with the Governor, David Rogers, to address broader prison matters. This feature interview will be broadcasted on The Justice Gap as a national angle, but locally on our weekly WINOL bulletin.

[Click the headlines to read the articles]

On the wednesday an article was published regarding the High Courts ruling which grants the right to anyone held under schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act to have a solicitor present face-to-face.  Jon credited this as a 'speedy' turn around, as it was up on the site within an hour of him messaging me the story.

Terrorist suspects given right to solicitor present during questioning