How protected are people with protected characteristics in prison?

In December 2018, two government reports were published that focussed on the experience of people with protected characteristics in the criminal justice system – the Offender Equalities Annual Report, published by Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service, and Women and the criminal justice system 2017, published by the Ministry of Justice.

Lauren Nickolls, Policy Officer at Clinks, has written a blog on what these reports indicate about the experiences of young people, women and people from black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities.

She highlights how young people between the age 18-20 are the most likely to self-harm in prison, that BAME people continue to be over-represented in the prison population and that women continue to receive very short sentences for often minor, non-violent offences.

Read more