Evening Standard Comment: Newborn baby’s cell death shows we’re failing prisoners

he revelations {that a} child died in a jail cell after her teenage mom was left unattended to provide delivery is the most recent instance of the way in which our justice system is failing prisoners, and in doing so, society as an entire.

A devastating report from the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman highlighted a sequence of errors and missed alternatives — together with a failure to ship a nurse in response to a name for assist from the lady.

This could by no means have been allowed to occur. Higher therapy of prisoners will not be at all times a prime precedence of the general public or politicians, however this incident demonstrates that we should do way more.

As a society, now we have moved away from locking individuals up and throwing away the important thing, however our journey will not be but full. But, Covid-19 has solely exacerbated most of the underlying points going through our prisons and probation providers.

Dominic Raab could view his new function of Justice Secretary as a demotion from the International Workplace. He shouldn’t. As an alternative, it’s his alternative to grip the various urgent points going through our prisons and drive much-needed reforms by means of the broader justice system.

Boris Johnson’s speech to the UN Basic Meeting touched on his journey from climate-sceptic columnist to net-zero campaigner (even when his authorities’s insurance policies don’t at all times match the rhetoric).

One other notable transition happened the day earlier than, when the Chinese language authorities introduced it could cease constructing coal-powered stations overseas.

This resolution is massively welcome. China is by a ways the biggest financier of abroad coal tasks, however it’s not in itself a panacea. The nation nonetheless accounts for greater than half of world coal tasks within the pre-construction pipeline.

Within the weeks main as much as COP26 in Glasgow, it’s important that each one nations enhance their ambition and commitments within the battle to avert catastrophic local weather change. China’s transfer is propitious, however now we have far additional to go.