menu_open
David Shipley

David Shipley

The Spectator

We use cookies to provide some features and experiences in QOSHE

More information  .  Close

The criminal justice system is on the brink of collapse

16.05.2024 20

The Spectator

David Shipley

The power of restorative justice

In a week when the Chief Inspector of Prisons published an Urgent Notification detailing the horrors of HMP Wandsworth, I found myself revisiting...

16.05.2024 20

The Spectator

David Shipley

Releasing prisoners early is a mistake

Some prisoners will be freed up to 70 days early to ease overcrowding in jails. This isn’t the first time the government has resorted to letting...

08.05.2024 30

The Spectator

David Shipley

We’re all paying the price for our rotten prisons

What happens when government policy meets an entirely unfit system? Today’s report on HMP Peterborough by HM Inspector of Prisons reveals a jail...

09.04.2024 10

The Spectator

David Shipley

Drugs are costing the lives of too many prisoners

In prison, drugs kill. HMP Parc, a private prison in Wales managed by G4S, has seen six inmate deaths over a period of three weeks. The Prisons and...

02.04.2024 10

The Spectator

David Shipley

Unless you’ve been in prison, it’s hard to understand how badly run they are

Prison The prison system is over-crowded, dangerous, drug-riddled places that fair to keep the public safe and offer terrible value to the...

16.03.2024 7

City A.M.

David Shipley

The catalogue of errors that left Joshua Jacques free to kill

The horror of the crimes of Joshua Jacques, who murdered his girlfriend and three members of her family in south London while high on drugs, is made...

07.03.2024 20

The Spectator

David Shipley

Why Britain’s prison guards are losing control

Prisons are terrifying places when guards lose control. The authorities retreat and angry prisoners are left in charge – until the cavalry arrives....

28.02.2024 10

The Spectator

David Shipley

Why do we send the wrong people to prison?

In prison, I met a lot of men who said they shouldn’t be there. They presented detailed mitigations, and listed all the flaws in the prosecution’s...

18.01.2024 10

The Spectator

David Shipley

Police are in a muddle over transgender strip searches

Have you ever been strip searched? I have. The date it happened – 7 September 2020 – is etched on my mind. That morning, as part of a security...

09.01.2024 10

The Spectator

David Shipley

Bleak Midwinter / How I found the true meaning of Christmas in prison

What do prisoners eat on Christmas Day? Some tabloid reports might lead you to think ‘lags’ are ‘gorging’ themselves on turkey with all the...

25.12.2023 5

The Spectator

David Shipley

Alex Chalk has bought the prison service a little time – that’s all

In his House of Commons speech yesterday, Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor Alex Chalk shifted the blame for problems with our prison system,...

17.10.2023 3

The Spectator

David Shipley

Anyone could have predicted that our prisons would fill up

It’s finally happened. Our prisons are full. Last night the Times reported that ‘Lord Justice Edis, the senior presiding judge for England and...

12.10.2023 3

The Spectator

David Shipley

Overseas prisons will be disastrous for British prisoners

Our prisons are overcrowded, dangerous and out of control. The prison population is rising faster than we can build new cells. Prisoners spend far too...

04.10.2023 3

The Spectator

David Shipley

Why inmates don’t get the healthcare they need

David Morgan, a 35 year-old man, told staff he’d taken an overdose. A nurse decided the man seemed drunk and needed to ‘sober up’. No proper...

16.09.2023 6

The Spectator

David Shipley

Don’t condemn McDonald’s for giving prisoners a day job

In the aftermath of Daniel Khalife’s escape and recapture, prisons are in the headlines. Even the most commonplace events, like a prison stabbing,...

12.09.2023 10

The Spectator

David Shipley

Our prisons are in crisis

Daniel Khalife has been on the run for three days. There’s a £20,000 reward for information leading to his capture and police have spent a night...

09.09.2023 10

The Spectator

David Shipley

On high alert / A Wandsworth prison jailbreak was waiting to happen

As a former inmate of HMP Wandsworth, I can’t say I’m surprised that a prisoner, Daniel Khalife, has escaped. When I was jailed there in 2020, I...

07.09.2023 10

The Spectator

David Shipley

1d2a957fb418c87368ac682927c950d2