Speaker: Mike Nellis, Strathclyde University. The Ministry of Justice anticipates a minimum daily prison population in England & Wales of 95,000 by 2029, up from its present 88,000. More people go to prison, increasingly for longer. Some ‘smart’ prisons infused with digital technologies will allegedly strengthen security & improve rehabilitation. The moment when campaigners believed an array of alternatives to prison would enable sentencers to use prison less has long passed; alternatives are themselves becoming more punitive. ‘Prison outside prison’ & ‘incarceration without walls’ are recent government watchwords involving even greater uses of electronic monitoring, delivered by the private sector & risk turning probation into a surveillance agency, more closely involved with the police. The British Left never agreed on a viable, radical critique of carceral practices, but there are still resources to draw on.

Meetings start with a buffet at 7:30pm followed by a talk at 8:00pm, then discussion at about 9:00pm.

All meetings are free of charge. Voluntary donations welcome. No need to book. If you can, please bring some vegetarian/vegan food and drink to share.