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Industrial relations problems in the UK Prison Service are part of the wider crisis within the penal system over the past 30 years, from the era of the Mountbatten Report of 1966 to the Woolf Report of 1990, and beyond. Incidents and disputes, concerning both industrial relations and the problems of prison regimes, attract wide media reporting, not all of it accurate. Attempts to redress this selectivity, and to demonstrate the complex linkages between industrial relations and the administration, management and reform of the penal system. Focusing mainly on the Home Office Prison Service (HOPS), and on the three main trade unions, highlights the differing political goals of the prison service, and the perpetual turmoil without clear purpose in which the principal actors seem to be enmeshed.

In the Conservative‐led coalition's recent green paper Breaking the Cycle Ken Clarke aims to justify reducing the scale and costs of imprisonment. These proposals have been met with a generally positive response from penal reform groups and academic criminologists who see them as a departure from the expansionist policies of the last two decades. Many of the reform proposals presented in the green paper are however unlikely to save the taxpayer money or increase community safety.

The first case of COVID-19 in the Malawi prison system was reported in July 2020. Human rights organisations raised concerns about the possibility of significant COVID-19 outbreaks and deaths in the prison system, because of the poor infrastructure, lack of healthcare and adequate COVID-19 mitigation measures, existing co-morbidities (tuberculosis, HIV and hepatitis C), malnutrition and poor health of many prisoners.

The authors conducted a legal-realist assessment of the Malawian prison system response to COVID-19 during state disaster measures, with a specific focus on the right to health and standards of healthcare as mandated in international, African and domestic law.

The Malawi prison system was relatively successful in preventing serious COVID-19 outbreaks in its prisons, despite the lack of resources and the ad hoc reactive approach adopted. Whilst the Malawi national COVID plan was aligned to international and regional protocols, the combination of infrastructural deficits (clinical staff and medical provisions) and poor conditions of detention (congestion, lack of ventilation, hygiene and sanitation) were conducive to poor health and the spread of communicable disease. The state of disaster declared by the Malawi Government and visitation restrictions at prisons worsened prison conditions for those working and living there.

In sub-Saharan Africa, there is limited capacity of prisons to adequately respond to COVID-19. This is the first legal-realist assessment of the Malawian prison system approach to tackling COVID-19, and it contributes to a growing evidence of human rights-based investigations into COVID-19 responses in African prisons (Ethiopia, South Africa and Zimbabwe).

Suicide and suicide-related incidents have increased within women’s prisons in the UK. This paper aims to synthesise the findings of qualitative literature, to gain a deeper understanding of the how women and staff in English prisons experience and explain the causes of their suicidal behaviours.

A systematic search of five electronic databases, namely, MEDLINE, APA Psychological Information Database (Psycinfo), Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (with full text – CINAHL), Psychology and Behavioural Sciences Collection and APA PsycArticles, was completed in January 2023. This study’s search strategy returned 1,714 articles, 7 of which were included for review. To identify relevant themes within the data, Thomas and Harden’s (2008) framework was applied. Quality appraisal was conducted by using Joanna Briggs’ Institute Checklist for Qualitative Research (Joanna Briggs Institute, 2021).

Four themes were determined, which describe the causes of suicidal behaviours in women’s prisons in England; mental health and trauma, lack of support from services and staff, contact with family and self-harm as a coping strategy. Important sub-themes were also identified including the prison environment and poor relationships with staff.

Further qualitative research is needed, however, the findings suggest greater support is required to aid positive mental health, including the provision of trauma informed coping strategies and improved staff training.

To the best of the authors knowledge, this is the first systematic review conducted on the factors contributing to women’s suicide in English prisons using qualitative literature.

Over a decade since the Special Criminal Court (SCC) was established in Cameroon, hundreds of individuals have been indicted, tried and convicted. Sentences have been imposed, most of which include a term of imprisonment (principal punishment/penalty) and confiscation as accessory penalty or punishment. Research focus has not been directed at the sentences which, as argued in this paper, are inconsistent, incommensurate with the amounts of money stolen and a significant departure from the Penal Code. This paper aims to explore the aspect of sentencing by the SCC.

To identify, highlight and discuss the issue of sentencing, the paper looks at a blend of primary and secondary materials: primary materials here include but not limited to the judgements of the SCC and other courts in Cameroon and the Penal Code. Secondary materials shall include the works of scholars in the fields of criminal law, criminal justice and penal reform.

A few findings were made: first, the judges are inconsistent in the manner in which they determine the appropriate sentence. Second, in making that determination, the judges would have been oblivious to the prescripts in the Penal Code, which provides the term of imprisonment, and in the event of a mitigating circumstance, the prescribed minimum to be applied. Yet, the default imposition of an aggravating circumstance (being a civil servant) was not explored by the SCC. Finally, whether the sentences imposed are commensurate with the amounts of monies stolen.

This research unravels key insights into the functioning of the SCC. It advances the knowledge thereon and adds to the literature on corruption in Cameroon.

The prosecution and judges at the SCC should deepen their knowledge of Cameroonian criminal law, especially on the nature of liberty given to judges to determine within the prescribed range of the sentence to be imposed but also consider the existence of an aggravating factor – civil servant. They must also consider whether the sentences imposed befit the crime for which they are convicted.

The paper is an original contribution with new insights on the manner in which sentencing should be approached by the SCC.

Prisoners are at greater risk of infectious diseases compared to the general population. While imprisoned, it is often difficult to observe Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) prevention strategies such as social distancing. To the authors’ knowledge, no study has been conducted worldwide to examine the condition of female prisoners with COVID-19. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the epidemiological, clinical and imaging characteristics of prisoners with COVID-19 in Ahvaz Women’s Prison (southwest, Iran).

The data for this descriptive cross-sectional study was collected using a checklist including epidemiological information, clinical symptoms, X-ray and computed tomography scan findings of the chest, underlying diseases and the final status of all female prisoners whose COVID-19 test was positive.

This study included 139 female prisoners with COVID-19 with a mean age of 37.19 ± 12.67 years. The most common underlying diseases were hypertension (14.4%), obesity (10.8%) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (9.4%). The most common symptoms at the onset of the disease were myalgia (59.0%), cough (41.0%) and dyspnea (37.4%). The most common radiological symptoms were ground-glass opacity (12.9%) and atelectasis (7.2%). In terms of extension of involvement, both lungs were involved in 8.6% of patients. In terms of zonal involvement, the lower lobes were more involved (8.6%). In terms of involvement position, the most common was sub-pleural (10.1%). None of the patients died.

Because the incidence, morbidity and mortality rate of COVID-19 in the prison population are likely to differ from those of the public. This study sought to investigate the situation of prisoners with COVID-19 in Ahvaz Prison, Khuzestan Province. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first worldwide study in this regard in women’s prisons.

This paper attempts to examine new technologies, typologies, FATF recommendations and the last Spanish penal reform on money laundering.

The paper describes the potential provided via internet and electronic transfers, prepaid cards and payment services with mobile phones for executing money laundering, and comments on the Spanish penal reform on this crime.

The study finds that the new payment systems facilitate money launderers’ criminal activity. However, the development of technologies, including the internet, has unquestionable advantages involved, and even provides verification of identity or other duty of surveillance for the prevention of money laundering. Also, this paper analyzes the amendments made recently in the Spanish Criminal Code regarding money laundering.

This paper would be beneficial to the legislature. Future development of measures for the prevention of money laundering should take into account all potential threats that arise from the use of new technologies. Moreover, the long list of modifications on laundering undermines the legal certainty and the consideration of criminal law as ultima ratio, within the framework of a globalized crime policy.

Bentham’s penal theory persuaded him that convict transportation was inherently inferior to imprisonment as a punishment for serious crime. The transportation of convicts to New South Wales also threatened his plans to build a panopticon penitentiary. This penitentiary, he thought, would demonstrate the superiority of a prison run for profit by a private contractor over alternative schemes of convict management. In the process, it would also make him a fortune. His repeated attempts to persuade the British Government to abandon the New South Wales penal colony and to honour its commitment to his panopticon project, however, came to nothing. Neither the Government’s acceptance of Bentham’s key theoretical arguments nor its avowed support for his penitentiary scheme was sufficient to prompt it to act. Bentham found that winning the main theoretical argument was not enough. He was continually forced to concentrate on side issues and on particular and largely incidental matters of fact. As it turned out, the particular and the incidental combined to carry the day against his panopticon.

Considers the penal law in Poland since the change in regime from totalitarian to democratic state. Discusses the different approaches used and the change in crime over the decade. Gives some statistics. States that Polish law will have to change to comply with European law as it strive to join the economic community. Concludes that the reader should “ponder anew the sense and role of penal responsibility” on an international scale.

The number of older people in prison is growing. As more and more people over the age of 60 struggle to cope behind prison walls, the prison service and the wider community are failing to meet their complex needs, according to Lorraine Atkinson of the Howard League for Penal Reform.