The blight of Britain’s prisons

Judith Feline loved being a prison governor. The former boss of hmp Maidstone in Kent relished the challenge of helping prisoners “become better people”. Small, everyday interactions were a crucial part of that, she reckoned. But twin challenges—a rising prison population and a shortage of staff—meant this was becoming increasingly unachievable. “I didn’t want to stop loving my job,” she says. So last year she took early retirement.