high court made a ruling on the rights of prison officers over safety concerns joining me now is steve gillon general secretary of the prison officers association representing more than thirty thousand prison officers thanks steve for coming on i mean you represent tens of thousands of people how of you go to a situation where prison officer is a banned for life from when you're using strike action but taking action of a safety in prisons in england and wales it appears every time that the hierarchy of the prison service. come against a stumbling block with the trade union the run and hide behind a course so that rather to their industrial relations behind the court with the courts through the courts that actually sit and have collective bargaining with the trade union now to say we've had a situation where we've had the chief executive officer michael and another director phil commercial offender agency was no change to her majesty's prison and probation services coat h.m.p. p.s. i think they think by rebranding it from national offender management services that it's going to get better but it's the same people that still running it and the re

the prison office association says that all of these figures show that the system is out of control.says there is a recruitment drive going on to get more staff in that is under way. the justice secretary said today that the figures show the importance of improving safety and security in our prisons. june, thank you. fires are continuing to burn in southern france for a third day. several thousand firefighters and troops are battling the flames, which they now say are more under control. around 10,000 holidaymakers and residents have been forced to leave their homes and campsites around the town of bormes—les—mimosas, with many spending the night on beaches, or in sports halls and other public buildings. duncan kennedy is there for us this evening. duncan. well, rita, it has been an incredibly bus iy day for firefighters and a worrying one for many holiday—makers, some of whom have not been able to get bach to campsites. for the first time, we have been allowed inside the fire zone. you get an idea of the devastation, and the dry ground, the high winds and strong temperatures are sti

suggestions, concerns from the prison officers association that it will make it like the situation inegating them, you glorify them to the other prisoners and it may backfire. we must tread carefully, we don't want that but it seems to make sense, if there is a danger of them radicalising others, to segregate them, so let's keep an eye on it. going back to the ft, they have this story, bearing up, angela merkel and the chinese president with a bit of panda diplomacy, providing us with lovely pictures of pandas all day but the serious point behind this is that this is a growing alliance between germany and china. they have always had strong trade links, them german exporters are much more successful at getting into china than the uk ones. china loves giving pandas to other countries. there we re pandas to other countries. there were more pandas in scotland than there were tory mps once but that is fio there were tory mps once but that is no longer true! it is a nice cuddly story, head of the g20 when it is going to be tough, she will have to say uncomfortable things about all manner of

when you speak to the prison officers association, they say they are not surprised, because they don't staff. that has been a consistent line from them for a long time now. francis cook from the howard league for penal reform is talking about chronic overcrowding in these jails, and the newjustice overcrowding in these jails, and the new justice secretary overcrowding in these jails, and the newjustice secretary david lidington has admitted that prisons are not yet safe or secure. the prisoners to be allowed to slip into such a state is quite something. —— for prisoners to have been allowed to slip into such a state. the government has promised that there will be more as an officers, but it is whether you can attract people into a career that is inherently dangerous? yes, and pay seems to be an issue as well. the government are looking at that. the figures are astonishing. there were 15 prison escapes last year, bar and 73 people we re escapes last year, bar and 73 people were let out by accident, which seems to suggest that rather than planning an elaborate escape, you should perhaps

prisoners being released from jails in england and wales at record levels, we'll speak to the prison officers' association about why this is happening. today marks 50 years since it stopped being illegalfor two men to be in a relationship in england and wales — we'll speak to an author of a book about de—criminalisation and discrimination. and a story that came up smelling of roses — a woman with dementia, who went missing was found by a sniffer dog in a matter of minutes, after she bottled her scent in advance — we'll ask if that's a way forward. that's all ahead on bbc news. now on bbc news it's time for sportsday. hello, and welcome to sportsday — i'm mike bushell. england struggle with the bat, on the opening day of the third test against south africa, apart from alistair cook that is. it's a big night of football at the women's euro 2017, with scotland and england in action. aain aa in and a a in and get ready to play their final group match against portugal with a place in the quarterfinal at sta ke. and you back the wrong horse, and it comes in at 50—1.why a mix up at yarmouth races left officials,

interesting to speak to you, dave todd from the prison 0fficers' you, dave todd from the prison officers' associationakfast from bbc news. the main stories this morning... hundreds of kilograms of drugs and 13,000 mobile phones were found in prisons in england and wales last year, according to the ministry ofjustice. the parents of baby charlie gard will help deliver a petition to great 0rmond street, calling on doctors to let him travel abroad for treatment. a mixed weather picture this morning, i think it is fair enough to say that, alan? i think to say that, alan? ithink so, to say that, alan? i think so, it is a different data yesterday. i thought this is a beautiful picture, it is not exactly bright and sunny but very atmospheric in cornwall. we are fairly confident that misty low cloud will lift and things will brighten through the day. but here in argyll and bute we are stuck under a weather front though there will be rain on and off, brighter spells across scotland but you can see the band of cloutier, that is the weather front i am talking about, the mist and low cloud sitting around the coa

the prison officers association says the system is out of control but the government disagrees.here is a recruitment drive going on to get more staff in which is underway. the justice secretary get more staff in which is underway. thejustice secretary david liddington today said these figures show the importance of improving safety a nd show the importance of improving safety and security in our prisons. this is outside source, our lead story... a senior republican has warned donald trump that firing special prosecutor robert mueller could be the beginning of the end of the trump presidency. let's have a look at what the bbc language services are reporting today... bbc arabic is reporting that france plans to set up "hotspots" in libya to process asylum seekers, in a bid to stem the flow of migrants to europe. president macron said the move would stop people not eligible for asylum from "taking crazy risks". this is one of our most watched videos online — truck loads of snow has arrived at a zoo in lapland so that resident polar bears have some snow to play in in the warm weathe

the prison officers association says the figures today show the system is out of control that the governmenthe justice secretary today said the figures show the importance of improving safety and security in our prisons. june kelly. the head of the us military generaljoe dunford has said there will be no change to its policy on employing transgender people until the defence secretary receives direction from president trump on the issue. mr trump tweeted yesterday that transgender people wouldn't be allowed to serve in the armed forces in any capacity. our washington correspondent gave us the latest. well, when it comes to donald trump and his tweets it seems to have taken the pentagon completely off—guard. he tweeted yesterday that transgender people would no longer serve in the military and described them as, "a tremendous burden" because of their medical cost when it comes to them being part of the us armed forces. it did seem to take a few people by surprise including many of his own generals, the defence secretary is away at the moment, so he could give no clarification, we finally have

let's speak now to david todd from the prison officers association, jonathan robinson, who served 17 ere has been a rise in assaults on prison staff and a rise in assaults on prisoners. until last december, there were 344 deaths in custody. prison officers have to deal with this. they have to deal with the violence. it takes its toll. there is a massive rise in post—traumatic stress disorder amongst my members. an officer on his own to close up more than 60 prisoners. is that the normal or is that unusual? in some of the inner london jails, that unusual? in some of the inner londonjails, you will that unusual? in some of the inner london jails, you will have that unusual? in some of the inner londonjails, you will have more than that. you will have two menace of staff looking up 160 prisoners and trying to control that many with two staff is asking the impossible. is it asking the impossible, as a prison governor? i think it is, the crisis we are referring to right now is something the prison 0fficers' association was sensitive to a numberof association was sensitive to a number of ye

staff, which means every day 20 prison officers or members of prison staff are being attacked by prisoners. that's one of the reasons why the prison officers associationurity measures and extra numbers of staff so they can feel safer and to prevent so many attacks taking place. what does the ministry ofjustice say? it says it's been making investment in prisons, it's boosting the number of officers by two and a half thousand. it says it is on track to deliver that by the end of next year, i think over 500 now in prisons. also investing in new technology to try and crack down on the former legal high drugs, psychoactive su bsta nces on the former legal high drugs, psychoactive substances that are thought to contribute to this rise in violence. and also this record number of self harm incidents. danny shaw talking to me a little earlier. the government has asked independent experts to brit is a report assessing eu migration. critics say it should have been commissioned a year ago. 71 prisoners in england and wales were released by mistake last year, the highest number in a decade. wildfires continue to burn in southern france, 6000 firefighters and troo

staff, which means every day 20 prison officers or members of prison staff are being attacked by prisoners. that‘s one of the reasons why the prison officers associationers of staff so they can feel safer and prevent so many attacks taking place. what is the ministry of justice say? place. what is the ministry of justice say? it says it has invested in prisons, it‘s boosting the numbers of officers by two and half thousand. it is on track to deliver that by the end of next year, over 500 are now in prisons and it is also investing in new technology to try and crack down on the former legal high drugs. psychoactive su bsta nces legal high drugs. psychoactive substances thought to contribute to the rising violence and this record number of self harm incidents. as ever, thank you very much. the deadline for reaching an agreement over the end of life care for the terminally ill baby charlie gard passed at midday today. charlie‘s parents had accepted that he would spend his final days in a hospice, but chris gard and connie yates wanted to spend more time with their son before his life support is taken away. police and child protection workers have been cr

staff, which means every day 20 prison officers or members of prison staff are being attacked by prisoners. that‘s one of the reasons why the prison officers associationers by two and a half thousand. it says it is on track to deliver that by the end of next year, i think over 500 now in prisons. also investing in new technology to try and crack down on the former legal high drugs, psychoactive substances that are thought to contribute to this rise in violence. and also this record number of self harm incidents. danny shaw talking to me a little earlier. get more on the military high command in the us contradicting the policy of donald trump let‘s go to our correspondent in washington, laura pictor. this is a bit of a mess? this time yesterday donald trump said one thing, today they say no? if you remember, yesterday donald trump tweeted that transgender people will be banned from the us military. he called it a tremendous cost to the military. is talking about treatment that transgender people talking about treatment that tra nsgender people can talking about treatment that transgender people can receive through the military. and he said they would n

prison officers at a record high of more than 7,000. with me is our home affairs correspondent, june kelly. with me is the general secretary of the prison 0fficers associationofficers have in terms of sentencing and the decision to release prisoners?m in terms of sentencing and the decision to release prisoners? it is not a prison officer ‘s job to do so, to delve into those 71 cases i would not have all the facts but i suppose it is systematic and what is going well with the service in general. what what is going wrong? it is underfunded and the government know that, they are investing 100 million, they say, but the reality is they have caught by over 8000 in the last five years and this is why we have the problems that we have. we tend to go round in circles, actually, they say one thing we say another and levy wants to take responsibility. what credit do they deserve the saying, 0k we need to increase numbers, they may not admit they got it wrong by cutting them but they are tying to do the right thing, surely? they are trying to increase prison officer numbers but the stark reality is just by doing so is not dealing with the here and now. the here and n

prison officers in england and wales from taking any form of industrial action. the ministry ofjustice went to the high court after the prison 0fficers' association suggested its membersof gay and lesbian people of south asian origin are thought to be under pi’essui’e to marry someone of the opposite sex. west midlands police say dozens of people have come forward seeking help after their families tried to force them into heterosexual marriages. 0ur midlands correspondent, sima kotecha, reports. cosmopolitan birmingham, a city which reflects much of the west midlands with its large ethnic minority population, but in some cases social conservatism can cause problems. decades of pressure that you're put on as a child that you have to conform, that you have to marry a woman. it made me wish that i could be the straight son that he wanted. a gay sikh man who felt he was trapped in a lie until he told his family he was homosexual. his father won't accept it. still after me telling him that i was gay, he still said, "just get married, it's just a phase you're going through. once you get married, everything will be fine", and you get told that if you follow what your parents

officers by 2018. we can now speak to dave todd from the prison 0fficers‘ association. the first question a lot of people will say to themselves, it seems crazy that so much of this stuff ca n seems crazy that so much of this stuff can get into present at all. please tell us how it is possible? it is possible in a lot of different ways, you can have trafficking routes, either thrown over the wall, through visits, through drones, drones ra problem, they are not detectable, the first time you know when they are there is when you hear them and this is often done at night time when you have a skeleton staffing figure on. what do you think can be done about it? the government talking about more prison officers, presumably that is one route but from what you said this is a very big problem? it is absolutely massive in alljails across the country. what can be done at the minute, i don't understand why government is not willing to block the signal which would bring things like a drone down, blocked com pletely like a drone down, blocked completely mobile telephones, rather than

officers at federal maximum-security prisons. we will take your calls and you can join the ♪ host: the associated press reporting that trump is consideringushing senators towards a repeal only version of the health care bill if they cannot reach a deal over the july 4 holiday. the legislative directors that the president made calls over the weekend and added that he believes senators are close to passing a bill. this is "washington journal." here's the latest tweet from president trump. instead of him attacking another person, his opponent was depicted as cnn. cnn says this promotes violence. journalistsers and have come out against this tweet. your thoughts on this and what it says about his attack on the media? (202) 748-8000, democrats. (202) 748-8001, republicans. (202) 748-8002, independent colors. if you want to make your thoughts on twitter, you can do so. , post on theok facebook page. just to show you more of the tweet that came out yesterday. again, this was sent by the president on twitter yesterday. from the days when he was in the world wrestling federation. , theerson he is attacking cnn logo over his face. again, this was

officers at federal maximum-security prisons. we will take your calls and you can join the ♪ host: the associated press reporting that trump is consideringhing senators towards a repeal only version of the health care bill if they cannot reach a deal over the july 4 holiday. the legislative directors that the president made calls over the weekend and added that he believes senators are close to passing a bill. this is "washington journal." here's the latest tweet from president trump. instead of him attacking another person, his opponent was depicted as cnn. cnn says