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Erwin James
Erwin James is a Guardian columnist. He served 20 years of a life sentence in prison before his release in August 2004
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As the Wormwood Scrubs report shows, the government’s plan to transform prisons will require a big increase in staff and funding
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Eoin McLennan-Murray, who ran the prison with the lowest reoffending rates says league tables for individual jails would be ‘silly’ but a national target could work
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With a record number of entries, this year’s work showed inspiring enthusiasm and self-discipline from the authors
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After serving 20 years in jail, I know that most detainees hope to live a crime-free life on release, but until the corrupt atmosphere of our prisons is tackled, rehabilitation will remain a distant dream
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Cigarettes will be banned in some UK prisons from January. But a smoke is a small freedom that can help prisoners cope inside – and many will resort to desperate measure to get it, says one former inmate
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The end of the ban on sending books to prisoners in the UK reminds me just how vital they were to my survival inside, and to the life I have lived since
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A new book reveals through first-hand accounts the struggles of those who are openly gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender behind bars
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Harry Woolf, the former chief justice who wrote the report on the 1991 Strangeways prison riot, says its lessons haven’t been learned
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Labour’s shadow prisons minister Jenny Chapman hopes her insights into life behind bars could hold the key to a fairer penal system after May’s election
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Erwin James: ITV’s televisual experiment has its merits. But as a borstal boy in the 70s, the punitive regime failed me
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Julie Shaw brings a unique perspective to the crime books she writes about the notorious Hudson clan – the main characters are her uncles. She talks about her family’s roots on the wrong side of the tracks
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Erwin James: With prisoner numbers falling and jails closing, Swedish criminal justice works, says director-general Nils Öberg
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Judges including Michael Morpurgo saw a record number of entries from incarcerated men, women and children, in spite of diminishing creative opportunities in UK prisons, writes Erwin James
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Erwin James: David Calvert-Smith leads a parole board confronted by an unprecedented backlog of hearings and little option but to keep inmates waiting in overcrowded prisons
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Erwin James: A Band of Brothers shows disenfranchised youths a way to become better men – and make a better life for themselves and their families
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Erwin James: New Prison Reform Trust research shows book and parcel ban jeopardises prisoners' rehabilitation and damages relationships
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Erwin James: Clive Martin, campaigner for groups that support offenders and their families says that Chris Grayling's massive reorganisation of rehabilitation will not in itself cut reoffending
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Sweden's prison population has dropped so dramatically that the country plans to close four of its prisons. What lessons can the UK learn, asks Erwin James
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Erwin James: So long as any society has a system that lets people out of prison, it is in everyone’s interests that they are let out in better shape than they were when they went in
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Fresh from jail, the economist and author of Prisonomics explains why the system costs too much, locks up the wrong people and does not prevent reoffending
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Erwin James: His G2 column about life as a quadriplegic, Life Goes On, opened readers' eyes to disability
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Erwin James: Arne Kvernvik Nilsen, the departing governor of a prison with a reoffending rate of just 16%, shares the secrets of his remarkable success
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Erwin James: Thanks to his violent behaviour in prison, Charles Bronson has spent 40 years behind bars, since his conviction for robbing a post office in 1974. But surely he has now served his time?
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Erwin James: Questionable reports that Guantánamo detainees love Fifty Shades of Grey belittle this crucial bit of freedom in captivity
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Erwin James: But for those serving a life sentence who cannot find a purpose, the prospects are bleak
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Guardian writer and former prisoner Erwin James discusses how jail can work, with Channel Ten's Hamish Macdonald
Inside the special prison unit where rehabilitation rules the roost