Reporting of record on prisons across England and Wales — presented without partisan framing, checked twice before publication.
The refurbished Elizabeth Fry wing was meant to provide 170 extra places. The Prison Officers’ Association blames staff shortages, while the prison service points to fire safety work.
HMP Lancaster Farms will grow from 584 to 824 places with drone-resistant cells, while 152 places in prefabricated units are going up at HMP Kirklevington Grange.
A man serving a life sentence for murder failed to return after a court ordered compassionate temporary release so he could attend his father's funeral, against Northern Ireland Prison Service advice.
Governors at ten category C prisons have been asked to approve second beds in Rapid Deployment Cells, a move unions and campaigners warn could undermine safety.
Figures released under Freedom of Information show violence at Northern Ireland's largest prison has risen faster than its population, as the jail reopens redundant cells.
A Native American prisoner sues over a doctored ID card, an Italian fortress jail keeps its theatre tradition, a remand prisoner in Dublin loses an eye, and lightning injures 16 in Ohio.
An inquest jury found that the death of a life-sentence prisoner at HMP Frankland was drug-related, and the coroner has urged the prison to apply its visits policy more consistently.
Work is set to begin on a 1,700-place category C prison next to HMP Garth and HMP Wymott, while Serco has secured two more years running HMP Doncaster.
A Ministry of Justice review of international research links low staffing, poor staff attitudes and perceived unfairness to higher levels of violence in prisons.
Paul Newton told staff the prison is not yet where it wants to be, after its Independent Monitoring Board described a chaotic first year at the Mitie-run jail.
