No life-threatening injuries reported, but news follows spate of drug-related deaths at privately-run HMP Parc

Three prisoners have been taken to hospital and an air ambulance was dispatched after disorder at a privately-run prison where 10 inmates have died in the past three months.

Security firm G4S, which runs HMP Parc in Bridgend, Wales, said there were two short-lived incidents at the prison on Friday, one of which involved 20 prisoners. The second incident, which was unrelated, involved an altercation between three prisoners, who required hospital treatment.

I cannot forget how badly my family was treated. I live each day with the toll this has taken

It is now 31 years since the death of my son Stephen. Thirty-one years during which I have witnessed countless young people being knifed and shot on Britain’s streets, and seen the devastation that has been wrought on the families of those sons and daughters murdered in their youth.

While my story will resonate with others whose lives have been changed irrevocably, and whose grief has no ending, each story is unique. Mine has been shaped not only by Stephen’s brutal and untimely death, but by the long fight for justice and to expose the failings of the Metropolitan police. It has also been shaped by the institutional racism identified in the Macpherson report (1999) – and by the enduring disbelief that complete strangers could attack and kill my son for no reason other than their hatred of black people.

Neville Lawrence OBE is an anti-racism campaigner

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

Observer investigation reveals use of ‘intimidating’ police tactic on at least 432 minors in 2023 under age of criminal responsibility

Hundreds of children under 10 faced stop and search by police last year, including some who were strip-searched, the Observer can reveal.

At least 432 children under the age of criminal responsibility were searched by the police forces in England and Wales in 2023, according to data.police.uk, an official site for open data on crime and policing.

Rishi Sunak’s government failed to protect the public, secure the prison estate and deliver swift access to justice

Prisons tend not to draw political attention except when they go wrong, and even then they have to go badly wrong. There are strong incentives for governments to neglect a service used by relatively few voters, and prisoners themselves can’t vote. But the prison system serves the wider community in various indirect ways. Locking criminals away protects the public. Conviction and punishment signal to society that justice is being done. Rehabilitation inside jails reduces reoffending. All of those functions are now breaking down, and the collapse is getting increasingly hard to ignore.

Last week it emerged that some prisoners serving short sentences will be eligible for release 70 days early, not because they have necessarily earned their freedom but because jails are full. This is the third such relaxation since October 2023 when the discount was 18 days, rising to 60 in March this year. Meanwhile, it has been reported that police forces in England and Wales have been advised to make fewer arrests because there are not enough available cells.

Friends of the Earth will argue private companies are allowed to create their own public order laws that stifle demonstrations

The government is to be challenged at the European court of human rights over its use of “confusing and opaque” anti-protest injunctions.

The environmental group Friends of the Earth (FoE) is to argue such injunctions allow private companies to create bespoke public order laws that stifle peaceful protest.

Watchdog says outstanding caseload has increased from 60,000 to 67,573 since MoJ set target of 53,000 in 2021

The Ministry of Justice’s ambition to reduce the backlog in crown courts in England and Wales to 53,000 by March next year is no longer achievable, a parliamentary watchdog has said.

The MoJ set the target in October 2021 when the outstanding caseload was 60,000, but by the end of last year it had reached 67,573 – its highest level ever – according to a National Audit Office (NAO) report.

This latest botched attempt to solve the prisons crisis won’t work. Time to focus on rehabilitation and community sentencing

In British politics, only certain things matter. Over the past decade, the Conservatives have overseen chaos in the justice system – from the disastrous privatisation of the probation services, to court backlogs of up to six years and the decimation of legal aid – with barely any pushback from the media or voters. Politicians afraid of being seen as “soft on crime” have little motivation to create fair conditions for offenders, even if it means sacrificing victims too.

Few issues make that case clearer than the state of our prisons. On Thursday, the government’s bid to deal with soaring overcrowding will see some prisoners across 84 jails in England and Wales become eligible for early release – up to 70 days prior to the end of their sentence.

Public safety said to be at risk as a result of crisis measures such as freeing convicted criminals to ease overcrowding

Police chiefs have told ministers they fear that the crisis gripping the Prison Service in England and Wales is “unsustainable” and risks public safety, the Guardian has learned.

Government and prison chiefs have taken a series of crisis measures because of overcrowding, including plans to free convicted criminals early and using police cells to house those who otherwise would be in jail.

As a UN expert on psychological torture, I’ve asked peers to reconsider the IPP sentences still affecting thousands in jail

• Alice Edwards is the UN special rapporteur on torture

Martin Myers attempted to steal a cigarette. Tommy Nicol stole a car. John Wright, then 17, head-butted a younger child and stole his bike. For these relatively minor crimes, they received grossly disproportionate sentences of the length you might expect for murderers.

Martin Myers is still in jail for attempted robbery of that cigarette back in 2006. John Wright is now 34 and has spent 17 years in jail. Tommy Nicol took his own life while in prison on an indeterminate sentence.