Out with the Southwark Labour team talking to Peckham Rye residents, with local Councillors Victoria Mills, Gavin Edwards and Renata Hamvas.
Campaigning in Peckham Rye
Out with the Southwark Labour team talking to Peckham Rye residents, with local Councillors Victoria Mills, Gavin Edwards and Renata Hamvas.
Parents tell me they want continued improvement at Hollydale Primary School, not Tory cuts. @SPACE_FairFund
Campaigning at Hollydale Primary School
Parents tell me they want continued improvement at Hollydale Primary School, not Tory cuts. @SPACE_FairFund
Brilliant to be back in Bermondsey and Old Southwark to join hundreds of local Labour members, Florence Eshalomi AM, Seb Dance, MEP and Mayor of London Sadiq Khan at the launch of Neil Coyle's campaign for re-election. Neil has been a brilliant representative for the people of Bermondsey and Old Southwark in Parliament and we have worked together for Southwark on campaigns for better transport and to protest Tory school cuts to education.
Backing Neil Coyle's campaign for re-election in Bermondsey &Old Southwark
Brilliant to be back in Bermondsey and Old Southwark to join hundreds of local Labour members, Florence Eshalomi AM, Seb Dance, MEP and Mayor of London Sadiq Khan at the...
Chilly day but warm reception for Labour, with Councillors Lorraine Lauder, Samantha Jury-Dada and Paul Fleming at St Peter's Primary School in Faraday this morning.
Campaigning at St Peter's Primary School
Chilly day but warm reception for Labour, with Councillors Lorraine Lauder, Samantha Jury-Dada and Paul Fleming at St Peter's Primary School in Faraday this morning.
The Joint Committee on Human Rights has today released a report calling on the Government to bring forward legislation in the next Parliament to address the shocking rise in self-harm and suicide in prisons. The number of self-inflicted deaths in prison in England and Wales has risen steadily from 58 in 2010 to 119 in 2016, with a particularly sharp increase in the number of self-inflicted deaths amongst women prisoners.
Recommendations
The Committee said the following changes need to be made to legislation:
- A legal duty on the Secretary of State to specify and maintain a minimum ratio of prison officers to prisoners in each establishment.
- A prescribed legal maximum time that a prisoner can be kept in their cell.
- A mechanism to ensure the Secretary of State’s accountability to Parliament for overcrowding.
- A mechanism to ensure the Secretary of State’s accountability to Parliament for maintaining the specified levels of staffing.
- Provision to be made in the Prison Rules to enable young offenders, and prisoners with mental health conditions which place them at risk of suicide, to make free phone calls to a designated family member or friend.
- A legal requirement to ensure that young prisoners and those with mental health conditions have access to a key worker.
Any new legislation should make explicit that one of the purposes of prison is to treat prisoners with humanity, fairness and respect for their dignity.
Chair's comments
The Chair of the Committee, Rt Hon Harriet Harman MP, said:
"The introduction of legislation would do something that should have been done a long time ago, but that is now urgent, which is to end the death toll of people with mental health conditions who take their own lives in our prisons.
When the state takes someone into custody, we have a duty to keep them safe—their life becomes our responsibility—yet prisons are not a place of safety. Last year, 12 women and 107 men took their own lives while in prison in the custody of the state. Every single one of these deaths is an absolute tragedy for each individual and their family.
Successive Governments have welcomed reports and proposals on this issue. They have changed policy and issued new guidelines, but nothing changes, except the death toll, which rises. In 1991, we had the Woolf report; in 2007, the Corston report; in 2009, the Bradley report; and in 2015, the Harris report. It is not that we do not know what needs to be done; it is just that we have not done it. We must recognise reality.
There is no point in having more reviews, new policies or new guidance; we must make sure that the changes we all know are needed actually happen in practice. For that to happen, we need a legal framework to be introduced in the next Parliament that will ensure that the necessary changes take place because they are required by statute."
Further information
Image: Ministry of Justice
Government must address crisis of self-inflicted deaths in prison
The Joint Committee on Human Rights has today released a report calling on the Government to bring forward legislation in the next Parliament to address the shocking rise in self-harm and suicide...
Out with the Faraday Labour team and local councillor Lorraine Lauder talking to residents on the Taplow Estate and East Street market today!
Visiting Taplow Estate and East Street Market
Out with the Faraday Labour team and local councillor Lorraine Lauder talking to residents on the Taplow Estate and East Street market today!
Busy school gate campaigning Michael Faraday Primary with Faraday Labour Councillors Paul Fleming, Samantha Jury-Dada and Lorraine Lauder this morning. The school was rebuilt under the last Labour Government.
Campaigning at Michael Faraday Primary School
Busy school gate campaigning Michael Faraday Primary with Faraday Labour Councillors Paul Fleming, Samantha Jury-Dada and Lorraine Lauder this morning. The school was rebuilt under the last Labour Government.
Busy Ilderton school gate this morning with parents, Councillor Evelyn Akoto and Councillor Richard Livingstone.
Meeting parents at Ilderton Primary School
Busy Ilderton school gate this morning with parents, Councillor Evelyn Akoto and Councillor Richard Livingstone.
Speaking to parents at Crawford Primary School in Camberwell this morning with local councillor at Kieron Williams. Clear that the great progress for children at Crawford is being threatened by Tory cuts.
Crawford Primary School campaigning
Speaking to parents at Crawford Primary School in Camberwell this morning with local councillor at Kieron Williams. Clear that the great progress for children at Crawford is being threatened by...
Helen Hayes MP, SE5 Forum, Camberwell Green councillor Kieron Williams and I have been working together to campaign to re-open Camberwell Station which sits on the Thameslink Line and is located on Camberwell Station Road.
This would come as welcome relief to people in Southwark, who have suffered from poor transport links for years, especially following the disappoint of the proposal for the Bakerloo Line extension to only serve Old Kent Rent and with the ongoing Southern Rail chaos.
Helen Hayes MP and I have written to the Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling MP to request an urgent meeting to call on the Government to re-open the station.
Find out how you can get involved in the campaign at www.openourstation.uk and sign the e-petition here: www.change.org/p/department-for-transport-re-open-camberwell-railway-station-london-se5
On Twitter you can follow the campaign using the hashtag #CamberwellStation and the campaign Twitter account @OpenOurStation
Campaigning to re-open Camberwell Station
Helen Hayes MP, SE5 Forum, Camberwell Green councillor Kieron Williams and I have been working together to campaign to re-open Camberwell Station which sits on the Thameslink Line and is... Read more