All prisons, like any institution, should communicate with their “clients”, be they victims, prisoner’s family or friend, the local community or just interested people.
All (almost all!) prisons fail to do this is any meaningful way, with the reason being either mythical security issues or, more often, the simple inability to publish information without being criticised by the media at either end of the political/social spectrum means they “don’t bother”.
The MoJ press office handles the “major” incidents, ( almost always either “bad” news such as riots, death in custody, escapes/abscondements or political issues) but the “good news” like charity fund raising, Restorative Justice projects, exam success etc, and simple factual updates like changes in visiting hours, rules for bring in clothes for prisoners etc never get published.
DoingTime is trying to solve this problem! Below are a few spoof examples of what we think could/should be published so that a more balanced view of the prison is presented to the public, and to inform /advise prison users as to what is happening at the prison. As prisons send DoingTime information we will update the sites and send you a brief “nudge” so you know to look at the latest news, you can register for updates here