John Podmore@John_Podmore

Former Governor Belmarsh/Brixton/ Swaleside, Inspector/Head Anti-Corruption, consultant, expert witness, author. Born and raised in Greater Manchester

 England
Joined February 2011
289 Photos and videos
“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there.” Rumi, a 13th-century Persian poet and Sufi mystic.
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£25K per shower, £15K per window - the incompetence and mismanagement continue @PrivateEyeNews
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“A cultural decay exists within the boss class of HM Prison and Probation Service, the last true hermit kingdom in public administration” And a bastion of intellectual bankruptcy
PoliticsHome
@politicshome
Oct 5
In a searing critique, former prison governor Ian Acheson says prison overcrowding is being used to cover up entrenched administrative and political failures 🔐 politicshome.com/news/articl…
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“The problem is that this service has become very good at creating new policies, new models, and new ways of working, while becoming less good at listening to the people who have to make them work”
Jim Brown@jimbrownblog
Oct 5
Guest Blog 112 #probation #prison probationmatters.blogspot.co…
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John Podmore retweeted
HMI Prisons@HMIPrisonsnews
Oct 5
HMP Highpoint: Easy availability of drugs destabilising the prison Read the inspection report: hmiprisons.justiceinspectora… And the press notice: hmiprisons.justiceinspectora… See the healthy prison scores:
Bar chart visualising the healthy prison scores for HMP Highpoint when it was inspected in 2023 and 2026. It shows that the score for Safety had declined from reasonably good to not sufficiently good, that the score for Respect had declined from good to reasonably good, that the score for Purposeful Activity had remained poor, and that the score for Preparation for Release had remained not sufficiently good.]

ALT Bar chart visualising the healthy prison scores for HMP Highpoint when it was inspected in 2023 and 2026. It shows that the score for Safety had declined from reasonably good to not sufficiently good, that the score for Respect had declined from good to reasonably good, that the score for Purposeful Activity had remained poor, and that the score for Preparation for Release had remained not sufficiently good.]

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John Podmore retweeted
HMI Prisons@HMIPrisonsnews
Oct 5
HMP Leyhill: A well-led prison with a strong rehabilitative culture Read the inspection report: hmiprisons.justiceinspectora… And the press notice: hmiprisons.justiceinspectora… See the healthy prison scores:
Bar chart visualising the healthy prison scores for HMP Leyhill when it was inspected in 2023 and 2026. It shows that the scores for Safety and Respect had remained good, that the score for Purposeful Activity had improved from poor to not sufficiently good, and that the score for Preparation for Release had improved from reasonably good to good.

ALT Bar chart visualising the healthy prison scores for HMP Leyhill when it was inspected in 2023 and 2026. It shows that the scores for Safety and Respect had remained good, that the score for Purposeful Activity had improved from poor to not sufficiently good, and that the score for Preparation for Release had improved from reasonably good to good.

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John Podmore retweeted
Joanna Hardy-Susskind
@Joanna__Hardy
Oct 4
Be under no illusion: this is a significant victory for everyone who stuck their neck out and defended jury trials, day after day, clause by clause. But it is not a comprehensive victory. Magistrates should not be allowed to send people to prison for two years.
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What on earth are his Spads smoking?
Alex Norris MP
@AlexJJNorris
Oct 4
We inherited criminal courts on the brink of collapse, with victims waiting years for their day in court. I remain committed to bringing down the backlog and delivering swifter justice for those who so desperately need it.
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Yep, there’s the tier that pleads guilty and mitigation and get over a third off and those that don’t
LBC
@LBC
Oct 2
'It does raise this point of two-tiered justice...' Reform's Sarah Pochin believes the sentence handed to the 64-year-old who blew up a ULEZ camera was 'disproportionate'.
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John Podmore retweeted
InsideTime@InsideTimeUK
Oct 3
#newsround: Private prisons ‘fined’ £32.5m for failures insidetime.org/newsround/pri…
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Given that everyone wants to build prisons but no one wants to work in them this makes eminent sense.
John Podmore@John_Podmore
Oct 3
I hear that on the back of Tory plans to build 50,000 new prisons by slashing overseas aid and DCMS budgets they will bring back National Service to provide staff to run the new jails.
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I hear that on the back of Tory plans to build 50,000 new prisons by slashing overseas aid and DCMS budgets they will bring back National Service to provide staff to run the new jails.
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And let’s not forget that the testing system is open to ‘manipulation’ so in my experience any positive testing figures are usually a gross underestimate of reality
InsideTime@InsideTimeUK
Oct 2
#newsround: Exclusive: One in five prison drug tests are failed insidetime.org/newsround/exc…
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John Podmore retweeted
🎼
@sedrul08
Oct 2
Today is Friday, on Fridays we dance.💃🕺
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While Andy Burnham is busy writing the next Labour Party manifesto he should reflect on the last one : “Labour will conduct a strategic review of probation governance, including considering the benefits of devolved models.”
Jim Brown@jimbrownblog
Oct 2
Indeed! Probation is utterly broken and was promised a fundamental Review.
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“We seem obsessed with finding ways of moving people around an overloaded criminal justice system rather than reducing the number of people who need to remain in it”
Jim Brown@jimbrownblog
Oct 2
So, How's it Going? #probation #prison probationmatters.blogspot.co…
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The early-release scheme is not solving the prison crisis; it is managing the consequences of having created one
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The biggest restriction for those out early on a tag is drugs- much easier to get in prison
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John Podmore retweeted
UnHerd
@unherd
Oct 1
‘Prisoners released after serving only one third of their sentences behind bars will now be essentially free in the community to reoffend.’ @NotThatBigIan on Britain’s early release scandal 👇 buff.ly/ieid5iH

Early prisoner releases will plague Andy Burnham

Today’s mass early release of prisoners and public opinion are two trains going in opposite directions. The Government’s aim is to relieve a prison system set to fall into gridlock within the next 12...

unherd.com
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In Jan–Mar 2026, 13,193 people were recalled to prison while just 12,977 were released. That’s 216 more recalls than releases.
Charles Hymas
@charleshymas
Sep 29
Prisons will remain at risk of running out of space despite Labour’s early release scheme because of record rates of offenders being recalled to jail, two watchdogs have warned @POAUnion @POAnatchair @AlexJJNorris @CMcKinnellMP @AlexDaviesJones @sarahsackman @PoliceInspForum @PGA_Prisons @HMIPrisonsnews @charlie_taylor6 @HMIProbation @NotThatBigIan @VictimsComm @voice4victims @PRTuk telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/09…
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John Podmore retweeted
Jim Brown@jimbrownblog
Sep 30
Listen to Practitioners #probation #prison probationmatters.blogspot.co…
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