Latest news with #OperationSafeguard
The Independent
20-04-2025
- Health
- The Independent
Suspects detained by police denied essential insulin, cancer and epilepsy drugs, damning report claims
Drugs for insulin, cancer, epilepsy and mental health are being denied to people held in police cells after they are arrested, according to a shocking new report. Suspects detained in custody suites are even having emergency care withheld as a 'form of punishment', according to the study shared exclusively with The Independent. The report has sparked calls for custody healthcare to be brought into the NHS, amid claims basic standards are not being met by private companies who currently provide it. Deborah Cohen, chief executive for charity INQUEST, which represents families whose loved ones have died in custody, said the report is 'deeply concerning' and urged ministers to respond before the risks 'lead to catastrophe'. 'This is about the denial of life-protecting medication,' she said. 'There is the ever-present risk of death and harm. It shines a light on the standards of healthcare in police custody suites. 'This report lays bare many of the concerns INQUEST has had for decades around the standards of care afforded detainees in police custody. The reality of this, denying people medication, which is life protecting does hold the risk of death and serious harm.' The news comes as the government has triggered 'Operation Safeguard', which allows the prison service to hold people overnight in police cells, due to overflowing jails. Researchers from Newcastle University, and Northumbria and Durham Universities went through hundreds of hours of police logs and spent long periods in custody suites interviewing staff and detainees over 2022 and 2023. They found multiple examples of patients being denied prescription medication for diabetes, arthritis, cancer, epilepsy, PTSD, and even insulin. Researchers claim there was 'scepticism and distrust of detained persons' medical histories,' from custody staff. Gethin Rees, the study's principal author, said: 'The thing that struck me is... it's a really important part of criminal justice but it is largely ignored. 'We are talking about the most vulnerable people in our society. The way society should be measured is the way we treat our most vulnerable so it's vital we explore [this]...we found people wanted to get to prison because police custody was seen as worse than prison.' Differing policies between healthcare providers covering custody meant a 'postcode lottery' on the healthcare provided and what medications were allowed, research showed. In some suites, people were not allowed prescribed medication that was not in its original labelled box, while in others, staff did not allow any medication for the first six hours - in breach of current guidelines. Mwenza Blell, one of the researchers who spent hours within custody suites, said: 'The option to trust people just does not seem to be real for health care professionals in custody. 'The scepticism partially derives from a risk-averse culture, driven by fears that detained persons are 'drug-seeking' and looking to 'top-up' for free.' Stephanie Mulhern, who interviewed people who had experience of custody, told The Independent that one patient she met who had been denied prescription methadone had experienced such bad withdrawal symptoms that they admitted to crimes they did not commit, so they could be remanded to prison where they would be allowed their prescription again. 'People were so desperate to ease their suffering that they then ended up relapsing and scoring drugs and forced back into a cycle of committing further crime,' she added. A core issue raised in the report was the lack of access to healthcare professionals in each police station, which impacts the ability of people to access healthcare and medication when they need it. Custody healthcare is commissioned by police forces and is largely provided by private companies, which the report suggests leads to 'strategic' cost-cutting. Dr Mwenza said bringing back the provision of healthcare in custody into the NHS 'would be useful', adding: 'I began to wonder how they know what standards should be.' The Home Office was contacted for comment. A department source said the report was being reviewed with the National Police Chiefs Council to see if any issues require addressing nationally.
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Homeland Security: 1,500 undocumented immigrants arrested in Georgia since January
Homeland Security officials say about 1,500 undocumented immigrants have been arrested in Georgia since January 22, a reflection of the Trump administration's hardline posture on illegal immigration. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] Many of those arrested have already been convicted of serious crimes, including second-degree sexual abuse, sexual assault of a child and drug trafficking. Officials say one immigrant is a Venezuelan gang member wanted for murder in Illinois. 'If they are criminals, we are coming to get them,' said Steven Schrank, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Atlanta. 'And if they're not, and they're illegally present in the United States, they need to think well and hard about what their plan is for the future.' That could include self-deportation, something officials at a Friday news briefing encouraged. Kristen Sullivan is acting Field Office Director for Enforcement and Removal Operations of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She said an app is now online from Customs and Border Protection to allow immigrants to report self-deportation without fear of arrest or other legal repercussions. 'We won't be coming out to your house and arresting you, arresting family members or people that you associate with,' she said. 'So you'll be able to leave on your own terms.' TRENDING STORIES: Kemp signs religious freedom bill into law as lawmakers scramble to get bill passed The US must return a Maryland man mistakenly deported to an El Salvador prison, judge says As tariffs take effect, is trouble brewing for coffee roasters and drinkers? The immigration crackdown has included a 10-day enforcement action called Operation Safeguard. As part of the operation, federal agencies raided a flooring factory in Bartow County on March 26. The owner of Wellmade Manufacturing in Cartersville is accused of bringing hundreds of people from other countries, including China, and forcing them to work in the plant. The operation also led to the arrest of five people – two of them undocumented immigrants – for firearms violations. Agents seized 13 guns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, some of which were bound for Mexico. 'This administration has made immigration enforcement a significant priority and will continue to enforce the law on the books,' Schrank said. The immigration crackdown involves enforcement at job sites. Officers arrested an undocumented immigrant from Mexico at a workplace who had previously been deported four times. Another undocumented immigrant has a criminal history that includes a conviction for multiple counts of sexual assault of a child. 'While no one should be present unlawfully in the United States, we are initially focusing efforts on those that impact our communities in a negative way,' Schrank said. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
Sky News
28-03-2025
- Politics
- Sky News
Government won't rule out shortening sentences of violent offenders to free up prison space as it opens new jail
The justice secretary has not ruled out shortening the sentences of violent offenders in a drive to create more space in an over-stretched prison system. Speaking to Sky News, Shabana Mahmood MP said the government wanted to follow the example of Texas in the US, where she said a "good behaviour credit scheme" allows offenders to earn an earlier parole hearing. When asked how victims of violent offenders would react to such a move, the justice secretary said her message to them was: "We've all got an interest in making sure the country does not run out of prison places. "If you run out of prison places, none of your options are good options, or anything anyone would be happy about. "So we've got to do things differently." Ms Mahmood was speaking at the opening of HMP Millsike in East Yorkshire - a brand new nearly 1,500 capacity prison, built as part of a government plan to create 14,000 new prison spaces by 2031. The new Category C jail is focused on rehabilitation, with skills and training for inmates to try and help them get jobs when they leave prison. It also has technology like barless windows and X-ray body scanners to stop drugs and drones getting into the prison. But, by the Ministry of Justice's own estimate, their target for new prison spaces will not go far enough to tackle the overcrowding crisis. Prisons are currently at over 99% capacity - with less than 800 spaces left in jails across England and Wales. The government recently triggered Operation Safeguard, an emergency measure to hold prisoners in police cells because of a lack of space. The Lord Chancellor said the government has launched a sentencing review because it "cannot build their way" out of the crisis. Ms Mahmood added that just focusing on short sentence reviews "would not go far enough". MPs from the Public Accounts Committee warned earlier this month that the plan to deliver the 14,000 new places on time are "still fraught with risk and uncertainty". They also said the government is facing a nearly £2.8bn bill to fix disrepair issues across the existing prison estate. Tom Wheatley, president of the Prison Governors Association, told Sky News the "maintenance crisis" is worsening problems with overcrowding. He said many jails built in Victorian times "require an awful lot of money to maintain". "And if you don't maintain them - if you lose a heating system or security systems that are absolutely necessary for the prison to run effectively - you also lose the accommodation. So these things become compound issues."
The Independent
25-03-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Benefits reform and jobs cuts: The political headaches for Labour in Reeves' spring statement
Rachel Reeves is set to unveil billions of pounds worth of cuts in her spring statement, in what could be one of the most pivotal moments in her career. The chancellor had hoped her speech might be simply a straightforward update on the state of the country's finances. But faltering economic growth and higher than expected borrowing figures, combined with her pledge not to raise taxes after her multi-billion pound raid in last year's Budget, have raised the stakes. Here, we take a look at what she is expected to announce – and the political fault lines it could trigger. Benefits cuts Ms Reeves is set to cut the benefits bill by £5bn, as she scrambles to find savings to meet her own strict borrowing rules. Documents published alongside the spring statement will also for the first time reveal how many people are set to be affected, potentially reigniting a sharp backlash among Labour MPs. There is speculation that the expected one million people set to lose out will actually be closer to two million. That risks triggering an another outcry from Labour MPs, many of whom are already concerned that the party will be accused of balancing the books on the back of some of the poorest in society. There will also be scrutiny of the how much the axe will fall on Personal Independence Payments (PIP), which are not linked to work, but designed to help with extra costs incurred due to a disability. Others, however, have complained that the cuts do not go far enough, given the country's spiralling welfare bill. Deep departmental cuts The chancellor is expected to squeeze billions of pounds worth of savings from sweeping cuts of up to 7 per cent to unprotected government departments. Some departments will not have to make the same reductions, such as health. But the pressure that will come on others has already led to speculation about the effect on parts of the public sector, like schools. Earlier this week the government denied that one idea that had been offered up was cuts to free school meals. Even if they are spared, other services will not be. Cabinet ministers have already made clear their unhappiness about the situation, at a tense cabinet meeting two weeks ago, in which the chancellor was challenged on her fiscal rules - and the cuts she was demanding because of them. Prisons crisis Another unprotected department is the Ministry of Justice, which is already struggling with a crisis of overcrowding in the nation's prisons. Just last week, ministers announced that prisoners will be temporarily held in police cells to deal a lack of jail space under emergency measures, named Operation Safeguard, which are triggered when the system comes dangerously close to capacity. Ministers have outlined plans to deliver 14,000 more prison places in England and Wales – but this target is not set to be met until 2031 at the earliest. One of Labour's key themes in the run up to last year's general election was on crime – only heightening the political risk for the chancellor of deep cuts to departments amid warnings that some public services are too cut to the bone to withstand much more. Up to 50,000 job cuts Ministers plan to save £2bn a year by cutting up to 10,000 civil service jobs - but reports suggest the true number of roles to be slashed could be as many as 50,000. The number of civil servants has increased since the outbreak of the Covid pandemic in 2020 and successive Tory governments have pledged to shave the numbers. But unions have warned that previous attempts to reduce the headcount by an 'arbitrary' number failed to deliver the promised savings and led to 'chaos'. And they warned that the government risked facing the ire of taxpayers - who would see the cuts in the decline in public services. Fran Heathcote, the general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS), has warned that after 15 years of underfunding under successive Tory governments 'any cuts will have an impact on frontline services'. The government is preparing to slash its international aid spending by 40 per cent and instead funnel the money into the defence budget. The unprecedented move prompted the chair of the Commons International Development Committee Sarah Champion, a Labour MP, to warn it will 'have terrible consequences abroad while also making our own country less safe and less influential in the world'. But she has also called on Ms Reeves not to inflict a 'double whammy' though more cuts to the departmental budget. Ms Reeves is expected to emphasise that the hike in defence spending is urgently needed because the 'world has changed' and in the wake of Russia's war on Ukraine.
The Independent
18-03-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Police cells to be used again to hold prisoners as jails ‘close to capacity'
Police cells will be used again to hold prisoners as jails are running at 'close to critical capacity' of more than 99%, the Justice Secretary has said. The contingency plan called Operation Safeguard has been re-enacted as the number of prisoners in England and Wales reached a six-month high. Ministry of Justice"> The prison population stood at 87,556 as of Monday, according to data published by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). This is the highest weekly figure since the population climbed to a record 88,521 on September 6 last year, just days ahead of the first wave of early releases which saw thousands of inmates freed on licence to tackle overcrowding. In a written statement on Tuesday, Shabana Mahmood said January saw the highest average monthly growth of the prison population in almost two years. She added that as of Monday, there were 824 places left in adult male prison. Ms Mahmood said: 'Operating this close to critical capacity increases the risk that prisons do not have sufficient space for a given prisoner entering the system and so an alternative has to be found, which is most frequently in a police cell. 'Given the recent increase in demand, it is necessary, and prudent, for me to temporarily reactivate Operation Safeguard to better manage the flow of offenders into the prison estate. 'This is an established protocol that will ensure that HMPPS (HM Prison and Probation Service) and police forces can jointly plan which police cells may be required to hold offenders on any particular day.' The Lord Chancellor also revealed that finding prisoners an alternative space has happened 'hundreds of times' in recent weeks, 'far above' the rate seen during normal operations. 'On the night of 10 March, there were 124 no-space lockouts, which is the highest number of business-as-usual (BAU) lockouts on record.' The operation was previously used in February 2023 under the previous government, and was formally deactivated in October last year by this Government, Ms Mahmood added. Up to 200 police cells will be available at any one time to hold prisoners over a day or overnight while a jail space is found for them. Ms Mahmood said the plan will be under 'constant review' and will stand down police cells as soon as they are not needed. The move comes as a new 458-capacity houseblock at HMP Rye Hill in Warwickshire was opened, and a new 1,500-space prison HMP Millsike is set to open in North Yorkshire in the coming weeks. But the Lord Chancellor said she expects prison capacity will 'remain tight until the new capacity is fully operational'. Ministers have promised to find a total of 14,000 cell spaces in jails by 2031 while an independent sentencing review exploring tougher punishments outside of prison is expected to be published in the spring as part of efforts to curb overcrowding.
