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.

WiB - London meets every Wednesday, around the statue of Edith Cavell in St Martin’s Place 6-7. We are very happy to welcome new women to the vigils – even if they can only come once in a while.

Oxford Women in Black hold a silent vigil for Peace and Justice every Saturday from 2pm to 3pm at the Martyrs Memorial, bottom of St Giles, Oxford.
Contact oxfordwib@gmail.com to go on our WhatsApp group for up to date information about forthcoming vigils.

The Lakenheath Alliance for Peace is organising monthly vigils to continue to highlight that we don’t want US nuclear weapons in Britain.

Join us at the main gate (Gate 1) of RAF Lakenheath between 12noon and 2pm on the third Saturday of every month (this month’s date – January 17th).

Contact vigils@lakenheathallianceforpeace.org.uk for more information.