Latest news with #Victorian-built
Business Mayor
03-05-2025
- Business Mayor
Cramped Victorian prisons limiting rehabilitation, chief inspector says
The cramped conditions of Victorian prisons in England and Wales are limiting the rehabilitation opportunities for thousands of offenders, an official watchdog has said. As the Guardian launches a visual investigation into the state of Victorian prisons in inner cities and towns, the chief inspector of prisons, Charlie Taylor, said 19th century jails could also be 'incredibly noisy and distressing' for autistic people. His words come after a series of warnings from the justice secretary, Shabana Mahmood, that England and Wales's Prison Service was in crisis, leading to the early release of thousands of prisoners this autumn. Taylor's annual report in September showed that many prisons were severely overcrowded and understaffed, with 30 out of 32 closed prisons rated as poor or insufficiently good. Many are overrun with rats and cockroaches and have been infiltrated by drug gangs. Taylor, who has previously described Victorian prisons as 'barely fit for purpose', said that many of the older prisons – around 10% of 122 across England and Wales – struggled to rehabilitate offenders. 'These prisons are already overcrowded, and tend to be on fairly small footprints. When you look at prisons like Leicester or Bedford, they're minute jails. There is very little workspace for education and training,' he said. 'If the prison population is also double what it once was, then that's not at all ideal to be able to do anything that might be vaguely thought to be rehabilitative.' Some Victorian-built prisons are able to rehabilitate offenders, but the conditions 'definitely make the job harder', he said. 'These were places designed to keep prisoners in solitary confinement for long periods of time. And the idea was hard labour, they didn't get cross-fertilised by their dodgy other prisoners, and they got lots of God, a kind of muscular Protestantism. And that's not what we're trying to do in running a rehabilitative prison system today,' he said. Older jails are 'incredibly noisy' and are distressing environments for many prisoners who demonstrate symptoms of autism, Taylor said. 'Lots of prisoners have got autistic spectrum disorder and therefore you know that that incredible racket that you get in those prisons is really unconducive to any sort of rehabilitative work,' he said. The Guardian has analysed the architectural makeup of some of the oldest prisons in England and Wales, gauging the suitability of their design for the modern challenges posed by a growing prison population. The government is attempting to build more out of town prisons. Three four-storey houseblocks are being built at HMP Highpoint in Suffolk, between the villages of Stradishall and Great Thurlow, near Haverhill. Construction work has begun on the 700-place expansion, including workshops and teaching facilities to help prisoners get jobs on release, the Ministry of Justice said. A review this spring of sentencing, conducted by the former Tory justice secretary David Gauke, is expected to recommend alternatives to jail including scrapping shorter sentences and treating more offenders in the community.
The Guardian
03-05-2025
- The Guardian
Cramped Victorian prisons limiting rehabilitation, chief inspector says
The cramped conditions of Victorian prisons in England and Wales are limiting the rehabilitation opportunities for thousands of offenders, an official watchdog has said. As the Guardian launches a visual investigation into the state of Victorian prisons in inner cities and towns, the chief inspector of prisons, Charlie Taylor, said 19th century jails could also be 'incredibly noisy and distressing' for autistic people. His words come after a series of warnings from the justice secretary, Shabana Mahmood, that England and Wales's Prison Service was in crisis, leading to the early release of thousands of prisoners this autumn. Taylor's annual report in September showed that many prisons were severely overcrowded and understaffed, with 30 out of 32 closed prisons rated as poor or insufficiently good. Many are overrun with rats and cockroaches and have been infiltrated by drug gangs. Taylor, who has previously described Victorian prisons as 'barely fit for purpose', said that many of the older prisons – around 10% of 122 across England and Wales – struggled to rehabilitate offenders. 'These prisons are already overcrowded, and tend to be on fairly small footprints. When you look at prisons like Leicester or Bedford, they're minute jails. There is very little workspace for education and training,' he said. 'If the prison population is also double what it once was, then that's not at all ideal to be able to do anything that might be vaguely thought to be rehabilitative.' Some Victorian-built prisons are able to rehabilitate offenders, but the conditions 'definitely make the job harder', he said. 'These were places designed to keep prisoners in solitary confinement for long periods of time. And the idea was hard labour, they didn't get cross-fertilised by their dodgy other prisoners, and they got lots of God, a kind of muscular Protestantism. And that's not what we're trying to do in running a rehabilitative prison system today,' he said. Older jails are 'incredibly noisy' and are distressing environments for many prisoners who demonstrate symptoms of autism, Taylor said. 'Lots of prisoners have got autistic spectrum disorder and therefore you know that that incredible racket that you get in those prisons is really unconducive to any sort of rehabilitative work,' he said. The Guardian has analysed the architectural makeup of some of the oldest prisons in England and Wales, gauging the suitability of their design for the modern challenges posed by a growing prison population. The government is attempting to build more out of town prisons. Three four-storey houseblocks are being built at HMP Highpoint in Suffolk, between the villages of Stradishall and Great Thurlow, near Haverhill. Construction work has begun on the 700-place expansion, including workshops and teaching facilities to help prisoners get jobs on release, the Ministry of Justice said. A review this spring of sentencing, conducted by the former Tory justice secretary David Gauke, is expected to recommend alternatives to jail including scrapping shorter sentences and treating more offenders in the community.
BBC News
23-02-2025
- BBC News
Melton Mowbray train station undergoes £78k revamp
Work has been completed on a £78,000 revamp of a Leicestershire railway operator East Midlands Railway (EMR) said it had upgraded the footbridge used by passengers to cross the tracks at Melton Mowbray has also repainted parts of the Victorian-built station in maroon and cream - the colours of the old London Midland and Scottish Railway - in tribute to its said the work was part of a wider refurbishment of stations it runs, including seven along the Derwent Valley Line in Derbyshire and the Robin Hood Line in Nottinghamshire. Philippa Cresswell, customer services director at EMR, said: "We regularly improve our regional stations, ensuring they remain safe, comfortable and visually appealing for our customers."These refurbishments are part of our broader commitment to enhancing the customer experience and preserving the character of our historic railway network."
BBC News
13-02-2025
- Business
- BBC News
King Charles and Queen Camilla to visit Middlesbrough
King Charles III and Queen Camilla are due to visit Middlesbrough comes 32 years after a monarch last visited the town, when Queen Elizabeth II officially opened Pallister Park in King and Queen will attend several engagements before attending a celebration event in Centre Mayor Chris Cooke said it was "wonderful news" for the town. It is also the first time the King has visited the North East since he became monarch in Police has put a dispersal order in place to prevent anti-social behaviour and to increase public notice will be in place from 09:00 GMT until 17:00 and covers the areas bound by the A66, Marton Road, Southfield Road, Linthorpe Road, Borough Road, Hartington Road and the B1272 in Middlesbrough. Local musician and mental health campaigner Mike McGrother will lead performances of songs and poetry that celebrate the Middlesbrough area, with his Infant Hercules Choir and band The Wildcats of year of the last royal visit to the town saw mixed fortunes for football, the arts, leisure and petty thieves. Middlesbrough FC were playing in what was then the all-new Premier League, having been one of its founder members - although the joy did not last long as they were relegated from it in the of the town's most eye-catching sculptures, the 30ft (9.1m) Bottle of Notes, was installed in the same year, having been made by steelworkers in Hebburn, South Tyneside, as part of plans to regenerate the in the town, the Victorian-built Empire Theatre reopened as a bar and Marks & Spencer introduced CCTV - then becoming increasingly prevalent - to help its security guards identify shoplifters in its now-closed Linthorpe Road branch. Follow BBC Tees on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram. Send your story ideas here.
