Overview
- The Ministry of Justice laid detailed regulations before Parliament on Wednesday that set specific sanctions to be used after parliamentary scrutiny next year.
- Judges will be able to impose loss of prison privileges for up to 84 days, cellular confinement for up to 21 days, a 27-day ban on social visits, or restricted visits to once every four weeks for up to 84 days.
- The rules apply to prisoners who outright refuse to attend sentencing and to those removed for disruptive behaviour, with reduced limits for 18–20 year-olds and an exemption for children visiting a parent when in the child’s best interests.
- Victims’ groups and the Victims’ Commissioner welcomed the move as giving families greater accountability, while the Prison Reform Trust and others have demanded evidence that the measures will increase attendance and warned they could penalise relatives.
- The regulations build on recent contempt and attendance-order changes and follow campaigning triggered by high-profile cases from 2022–24, with operational questions remaining about how prisons will carry out confinement and monitor impact.