Justice secretary’s plans likely to increase black people’s suspicion of court system, committee suggests

David Lammy’s planned changes to the criminal courts in England and Wales could have a “far-reaching” impact on race relations, a cross-party committee of MPs has concluded.

The deputy prime minister’s plan to remove the right to elect for a crown court trial “has the potential to increase mistrust in the criminal justice system among the black community”, the justice select committee said, because black defendants are more likely to elect for trial.

Mohammad Tajik and Alnour Ali, who steered boats on Channel crossings, are first to be sentenced under new law

Two men have been jailed under the new offence of endangering others during a journey at sea.

The two men who were steering small boats are the first to be sentenced under the law, which came into force in January as part of government efforts to counter small-boat crossings.

Inmates in England and Wales live among vermin while gangs control entire wings, monitors warn, with failures ‘at risk of becoming normalised’

• Staff at immigration detention centre wore England flags, report finds

The independent monitoring board’s annual report of conditions across the prison estate of England and Wales is stark and unflinching.

Men and women are held for long periods in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions, often living alongside vermin.

Chair of prisons and detention watchdog concerned about intimidating effect as wide-ranging and damning review published

• Grim reality of prison conditions laid bare in damning report

Staff at an immigration detention centre wore England flags pinned to their uniforms while guarding migrants, a report from the prisons and detention watchdog has revealed.

Their use by staff at one of the Home Office’s short-term holding facilities to detain migrants is revealed in the Independent Monitoring Boards’ national annual report, published on Wednesday, which is based on 127 annual reports about different prisons, young offender institutions and immigration detention centres.