4WardEver Campaign UK

originally published by:
The Independent
2nd September 2010

More than 2,000 police officers had at least three complaints made against them by members of the public over the past year, according to figures released today.

A BBC survey of UK forces showed 2,073 officers were subject to three or more allegations them during 2009/10. Most complaints were about rudeness, assault or failure of duty, according to the Freedom of Information request.

The Police Force of Northern Ireland had the highest number of officers with three or more complaints, at 376. The Metropolitan Police was second with 273 officers, followed by Greater Manchester with 160, Kent with 130 and West Mercia with 117.

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originally published by: AOL News
17th August 2010

In an article recently on AOL News, Paul Wachter posed the question: Will Obama take on prison reform? That’s a great question. It would be hard to predict what Obama actually will do, but this is certain: President Barack Obama absolutely should take on prison reform. It is a moral and practical necessity.

The problems with today’s prisons are well documented. Conditions are deplorable. Here are a few facts:

• Federal prisons are being operated at 160 percent capacity. Mandatory minimum sentences are putting thousands of nonviolent offenders in prison, for disproportionately long terms.
• Approximately two-thirds of prisoners released each year will be back behind bars in some form before three years have passed.

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originally published by: IRR
15th July 2010

The government’s controversial preventing violent extremism programme is apparently to be dismantled.

According to a report in the Guardian on 14 July, the Home Office, in addition to carrying out a review of anti-terror powers relating to control orders, stop and search, surveillance and detention powers, is about to dismantle its Prevent Programme.

This £60 million programme had been widely criticised by community groups, not least because it appeared to place the whole Muslim community under suspicion and conflated community development work with intelligence gathering.

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originally published by: Mail on Sunday
18th July 2010

A government manual instructing prison staff on how to inflict pain on teenage inmates was today labelled ‘state authorised child abuse’. The Ministry of Justice was forced to release details of its approved ‘restraint and self-defence techniques’ for children in secure training centres after a lengthy freedom of information battle.

The secret manual, Physical Control In Care, authorises staff to ‘use an inverted knuckle into the trainee’s sternum and drive inward and upward.’ Officers at youth prisons, such as HMP Young Offenders’ Institution in Feltham, were given guidelines on how to restrain children as young as 12.

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