Many have celebrated, and perhaps none will have mourned the murder of former Lostprophets frontman and prolific sadistic paedophile Ian Watkins in HMP Wakefield. But his killing in the notionally high-security Category A prison demonstrates just how little control exists in our jails. Indeed, just two weeks ago HM Inspector of Prisons published a report on Wakefield in which he noted that ‘ violence had increased markedly…with a 62 per cent rise in incidents and a 72 per cent increase in serious assaults ’. The inspector went on to note that ‘older men convicted of sexual offences’ felt particularly unsafe, and lacked confidence that staff would protect them.

Men with a high propensity for violence are not going to become less violent if they are in a place full of constant danger and

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