International Law

Prisoners being sent on tree-hugging sessions in National Lottery-funded scheme

Posted on July 15, 2008
Prisoners being sent on tree-hugging sessions in National Lottery-funded schemePrisoners are being sent out into the grounds of their jails to hug trees as part of a Lottery-funded scheme.The Woodland Trust is aiming to identify 100,000 ancient trees and said one of the recommended methods of predicting a tree's age was to measure it by hugging it...

MI5 officers 'outsourced the torture of British nationals to Pakistani agencies'

Posted on July 15, 2008
MI5 officers 'outsourced the torture of British nationals to Pakistani agencies'MPs have called for an investigation into allegations that MI5 officers "outsourced" the torture of British citizens to Pakistani security agencies.John McDonnell, Labour MP for Hayes and Harlington, and Andrew Tyrie, Conservative member for Chichester, have said that the reports of abuse must be examined by the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC), which oversees the security agencies...

Police may offer 18-year-old computer hacker a job

Posted on July 15, 2008
Police may offer 18-year-old computer hacker a jobNew Zealand police are so impressed by the skills of a teenager at the centre of a global credit card scam worth millions of pounds that they are considering offering him a job fighting cyber-crime.This sounds like a more sensible solution than a custodial sentence for the sake of it...

Recent changes in parole release

Posted on July 15, 2008
Recent changes in parole releaseBy: Tony QuinlanTony Quinlan highlights significant new provisions for determinate sentence prisoners sentenced under the Criminal Justice Act 1991As most serving prisoners are aware, 4th April 2005 was a significant date in the world of Prison Law...

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Bronson: sort your head out

Posted on July 15, 2008
Bronson: sort your head outTry wearing my shoes said Charles Bronson.Other prisoners responded by stating he is too big for his boots...Bronson: sort your head outFrom: Richard Caswell - HMP FranklandI've just read the contribution from Charles Bronson in your June issue going on about 'prisoners moaning over petty things'...

Education for all including patients at Long Bay Hospital

Posted on July 15, 2008
Update mental patients lockdown/Teachers condemn education cuts Long Bay Hospital Education for all including patients at Long Bay HospitalThe NSW Teachers Federation calls on the Department of CorrectiveServices to ensure that access to education programs at the newLong Bay Hospital is not cut by half, and for the Minister for Justice, John Hatzistergos, to legislate to give inmates in NSW the right to education...

The chattering classes

Posted on July 15, 2008
The chattering classesBy: Charles Hanson - HMP Blantyre HouseLifer Charles Hanson has some strong views on what he considers to be the liberal elite and do-gooder in prison reform.The history of prisons, and most certainly in recent years, shows that they have become valuable sources for the professional apologist and ?do-gooder? careerist to demonstrate and exert his or her so-called ?humanity?...

Reform Groups - Speak to us, not for us

Posted on July 15, 2008
Reform Groups - Speak to us, not for usBy: Ben Gunn - HMP Shepton MalletLifer Ben Gunn implores those who campaign on behalf of prisoners to enter into dialogue with them.For such a generally unpopular group of ratbags, we have a lot of groups who have much to say on our behalf...

?Unlocking Potential?

Posted on July 15, 2008
?Unlocking Potential?Common sense to learn from people who have been at the sharp end of the penal system.By: Sally BurnellPrisoners, ex-offenders, and their families should have a say in criminal justice policies, according to a new report by a Taskforce led by national charity Clinks...

Gay driver forced to resit driving test

Posted on July 14, 2008
Gay driver forced to resit driving testAn Italian motorist who was forced to resit his driving test because he is homosexual has been awarded 100,000 Euros (£80,000) in damages for sexual discrimination.Danilo Giuffrida, 26, told doctors he was gay at his medical examination for military service in Italy and they passed the information to the transport ministry...

Magistrates should be banned from handing out custodial sentences

Posted on July 14, 2008
Magistrates should be banned from handing out custodial sentencesMagistrates should be banned from handing out custodial sentences to help ease overcrowding in prisons, an influential report says.The study says Britain's jails are full to bursting because too many offenders are being sent to prison for lesser offences like burglary...

Pope to apologise for sex scandal

Posted on July 13, 2008
Pope to apologise for sex scandalPope Benedict XVI has begun a nine-day visit to Australia, where he is due to apologise for decades of sexual abuse of children by priests.I think it is all very well him apologising to the nation, but what about to the victims of that sexual abuse?

The writing's on the cell wall for US jailbird novelist

Posted on July 13, 2008
The writing's on the cell wall for US jailbird novelistNorth Carolina authorities confiscate manuscript of prisoner's fifth novel to stop him 'profiting' behind barsBy Guy Adams in Los AngelesSunday, 13 July 2008It's just as well that Oscar Wilde and John Bunyan, to name but two of literature's greatest jailbirds, weren't sentenced to serve time in the overcrowded state prisons of North Carolina...

MPs claim expenses for unnecessary homes

Posted on July 13, 2008
MPs claim expenses for unnecessary homesExtra properties subsidised at cost of thousands even though constituencies are short ride from CommonsTaxpayers are funding MPs to run two homes even when they only need one for their parliamentary duties.The Sunday Telegraph has uncovered four cases where MPs are receiving up to £24,000-a-year in "second home allowance" despite one of their two homes being nowhere near either Westminster or their constituency...

The Truth About Torture

Posted on July 13, 2008
The Truth About TortureBy Stuart Taylor Jnr in NewsweekTo get a full accounting of how U.S. interrogation methods were used, the president should give those accused of 'war crimes' a pass.Dark deeds have been conducted in the name of the United States government in recent years: the gruesome, late-night circus at Abu Ghraib, the beating to death of captives in Afghanistan, and the officially sanctioned waterboarding and brutalization of high-value Qaeda prisoners...

Ten absconders still on the run

Posted on July 12, 2008
Ten absconders still on the runTen people who have absconded from Leyhill Open Prison in South Gloucestershire since 2004 are still on the run, the BBC has learnt.The prisoners were serving sentences for crimes including importing drugs and possessing a firearm...

Policeman 'pestered prostitutes'

Posted on July 12, 2008
Policeman 'pestered prostitutes'A police sergeant who left a colleague answering a 999 call so he could visit prostitutes has been given a suspended eight-month jail sentence.What's this? A flashing blue light in a red light district?

Murder charge for prison van man

Posted on July 12, 2008
Murder charge for prison van manA prison van driver who is accused of murdering a woman by hitting her with his vehicle is due to appear in court.Andrew Curtis, 48, of Serco Court Escort Services, will appear in custody at Camberwell Green Magistrates' Court in south London...

Tory councillor admits rape

Posted on July 12, 2008
Tory councillor admits rapeA Tory councillor has lost his job and is likely to be expelled from the party, after admitting five sex offences involving three girls, one of them being a charge of rape.Stephen Mullins, 52, formerly of Links Avenue, Hellesdon, has been a member of Norwich North Conservative Association (NNCA) for about two years and a Hellesdon parish councillor for about the same time...

Parliamentary website redesign costs over £3 million

Posted on July 12, 2008
Parliamentary website redesign costs over £3 millionMPs have spent more than £3 million of taxpayers' cash redesigning the parliamentary website, it has been revealed.The overhaul, which has taken more than two years, was approved in an effort to make the houses of parliament more accessible to the public...

Privately run bail hostels come under fire

Posted on July 11, 2008
Privately run bail hostels come under fireSuspend controversial private bail contract for offenders now, say Tories "Dangerous criminals are being housed in unsupervised private hostels a whistleblower claimed as the Tories called for them to be closed"...

Cow farts collected in plastic tank for global warming study

Posted on July 11, 2008
Cow farts collected in plastic tank for global warming studyScientists are examining cow farts and burps in a novel bid to combat global warming.My barrister Flo Krause and her partner live in Milton Keynes, and Flo has jokingly referred to themselves as the Milton Keynes Cows...

Fiancée of terror plot leader jailed for helping him escape in a burka

Posted on July 11, 2008
Fiancée of terror plot leader jailed for helping him escape in a burkaThe fiancée of one of the leaders of the failed July 21 suicide attacks in London has been sentenced to three years in jail for helping him escape in a burka.Fardosa Abdullahi gave her fiance her mobile phone handset, provided a scarf and handbag for his disguise and accompanied him to Golders Green coach station where he fled to Birmingham dressed as a woman...

Older prisoners 'doubly punished'

Posted on July 10, 2008
Older prisoners 'doubly punished'Older prisoners in England and Wales face a "double punishment" of poor treatment and conditions, says campaign group the Prison Reform Trust.In a report, it says older inmates face bullying, isolation and discrimination by other prisoners and staff...

Teenager finds bat asleep in bra

Posted on July 10, 2008
Teenager finds bat asleep in braA teenager who thought movement in her underwear was caused by her vibrating mobile phone found a bat curled up asleep in her bra.Lucky little devil...

Study into mixed prison expansion

Posted on July 10, 2008
Study into mixed prison expansionA study is under way into the possibility of housing another 240 inmates at Peterborough's mixed prison.I am puzzled why there needs to be a study into this issue. You either have the room to build another wing or you don't it's as simple as that...

Anne Robinson banned from driving

Posted on July 10, 2008
Anne Robinson banned from drivingTelevision presenter Anne Robinson has been banned from driving for six months after admitting a speeding offence.It has to be said. You are the weakest link...Good bye!

Couple admit hurling dog from balcony

Posted on July 10, 2008
Couple admit hurling dog from balconyA husband and wife have admitted hitting a dog and hurling it from a fifth floor balcony while its elderly owner lay dying in hospital.I would like to hurl this pair from a balcony. Especially as they had volunteered to look after the dog in the first place.

Never mind about the dead body what about me or us

Posted on July 10, 2008
Never mind about the dead body what about me or usHe went on: "The defendant understood very well what he had done. His concern was immediately about his own career. He was heard to say: 'I'm doomed. That's my career gone. I'm a police officer.'" When I read this, I thought it reminds me of the McCann case...

Cyclist dies after hitting Go Slow sign

Posted on July 10, 2008
Cyclist dies after hitting Go Slow signPostal worker Mark Titus struck the speed reduction sign after losing control of his mountain bike on a steep hill in Boxley, near Maidstone in Kent.I think this comes under the tragic comedy heading.

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