Prisons

Rev Dr Lesley Carroll has been named as the new prisoner ombudsman for Northern Ireland. Dr Carroll, a Presbyterian minister who is currently deputy chief commissioner at the Equality Commission and also works at Victim Support NI, will take up office for a three-year term from 1 March 2019.

Irish experts on the impact of parental imprisonment on children have encouraged Irish authorities to follow the example of an English prison which installed a photo booth for prisoners and visitors. HMP Lowdham Grange, a privately-run prison in Nottinghamshire, installed the photo booth last year t

Wales has the highest imprisonment rate in Western Europe, according to research by Cardiff University’s Wales Governance Centre. Sentencing and Immediate Custody in Wales: A Factfile provides a statistical comparison of sentencing and immediate custody figures in Wales and England.

Penal reform campaigners have welcomed reports that plans for a 2,200-person "super-prison" in north Dublin have been abandoned. Deirdre Malone, executive director of the Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT), told Irish Legal News that the news "demonstrates positive progress in Irish penal policy over t