Why Shabana Mahmood’s outlook on prisons is wrong Letter: The justice secretary has not understood many of the issues surrounding the prisons crisis, say Deborah Coles, Joe Sim and Steve Tombs The Guardian - UK · Aug 21, 2025
The radical changes that are needed to fix the failings of our prison system Letters: Deborah Coles, Joe Sim and Steve Tombs call for a change in sentencing policy, a halt to prison-building, a cut in the jail population and investment in communities and alternatives to custody The Guardian - UK · Jun 4, 2024
Focus on prison places is a political ploy Letter: Britain’s prison system neither rehabilitates nor delivers justice, write Deborah Coles, Joe Sim and Steve Tombs The Guardian - UK · Aug 16, 2023
On Covid, the past is being erased and the present ignored Letters: ‘Don’t mention the virus’ has become a mantra, says Joan Twelves, while Joe Sim and Steve Tombs say the government is silencing discussion about the disease. Plus one reader describes how her husband’s death was not recorded as caused by Covid The Guardian - UK · Jun 1, 2023