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gemabbott.bsky.social
Gemma Abbott
@gemabbott.bsky.social
6.8K followers 2.4K following 860 posts
Legal Director @thehowardleague.bsky.social. Trustee @dignityindying.org.uk. Views my own. She/her 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿
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Reposted by Gemma Abbott
gemabbott.bsky.social
A long-ish thread on racial disproportionalities in the use of force in prison - and why this makes yesterday’s decision to authorise the use of PAVA spray in children’s prisons all the more appalling - please do read and share 🙏
gemabbott.bsky.social Gemma Abbott @gemabbott.bsky.social · Apr 25
🧵 Yesterday Govt published an evaluation of the use of force - including PAVA spray - in adult prisons from 2018 to 2023

It shows - starkly - the fact that you are significantly more likely to have force used against you in prison if you are Black than white
Figure 4 from this document showing disproportionate use of force of all kinds against Black people in prison https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68093394e4d2b76ccfb527a0/Use_of_Force_Evaluation_Report.pdf
April 25, 2025 at 10:43 AM
gemabbott.bsky.social
A long-ish thread on racial disproportionalities in the use of force in prison - and why this makes yesterday’s decision to authorise the use of PAVA spray in children’s prisons all the more appalling - please do read and share 🙏
gemabbott.bsky.social Gemma Abbott @gemabbott.bsky.social · Apr 25
🧵 Yesterday Govt published an evaluation of the use of force - including PAVA spray - in adult prisons from 2018 to 2023

It shows - starkly - the fact that you are significantly more likely to have force used against you in prison if you are Black than white
Figure 4 from this document showing disproportionate use of force of all kinds against Black people in prison https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68093394e4d2b76ccfb527a0/Use_of_Force_Evaluation_Report.pdf
April 25, 2025 at 10:43 AM
gemabbott.bsky.social
🧵 Yesterday Govt published an evaluation of the use of force - including PAVA spray - in adult prisons from 2018 to 2023

It shows - starkly - the fact that you are significantly more likely to have force used against you in prison if you are Black than white
Figure 4 from this document showing disproportionate use of force of all kinds against Black people in prison https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68093394e4d2b76ccfb527a0/Use_of_Force_Evaluation_Report.pdf
April 25, 2025 at 10:12 AM
Reposted by Gemma Abbott
sellottie.bsky.social
Important campaign against a barbaric decision which will - per the government’s own evaluations of PAVA in adult prisons - fail to deter violence in YOIs and instead further damage fragile trust between children in custody and staff
thehowardleague.bsky.social The Howard League @thehowardleague.bsky.social · Apr 24
The Ministry of Justice has announced the introduction of PAVA spray for use against children in prison. The Howard League will take whatever steps necessary, including legal action, to challenge this decision.

Please support our crowdfunder 🙏 www.crowdjustice.com/case/stop-th...
Stop the use of PAVA spray on children in prison
The Howard League is a national charity campaigning for less crime, safer communities and fewer people in prison.
www.crowdjustice.com
April 24, 2025 at 1:56 PM
gemabbott.bsky.social
The decision to use PAVA in children’s prisons “represents a serious escalation in the use of force that is permitted against children” - @thehowardleague.bsky.social in @thetimes.com

www.thetimes.com/article/c464...
Pepper spray to be used in youth custody after surge in assaults
Youth offender institutions, whose inmates are as young as 14, are the most violent part of the prison system
www.thetimes.com
April 24, 2025 at 8:22 PM
gemabbott.bsky.social
In adult prisons, Black men are significantly more likely to be sprayed with PAVA than white men - in fact, this is more than 5 times more likely for Black men under 25

We are deeply concerned that this disproportionality will be mirrored in children’s prisons
thehowardleague.bsky.social The Howard League @thehowardleague.bsky.social · Apr 24
The Ministry of Justice has announced the introduction of PAVA spray for use against children in prison. The Howard League will take whatever steps necessary, including legal action, to challenge this decision.

Please support our crowdfunder 🙏 www.crowdjustice.com/case/stop-th...
Stop the use of PAVA spray on children in prison
The Howard League is a national charity campaigning for less crime, safer communities and fewer people in prison.
www.crowdjustice.com
April 24, 2025 at 11:30 AM
Reposted by Gemma Abbott
thehowardleague.bsky.social
The Ministry of Justice has announced the introduction of PAVA spray for use against children in prison. The Howard League will take whatever steps necessary, including legal action, to challenge this decision.

Please support our crowdfunder 🙏 www.crowdjustice.com/case/stop-th...
Stop the use of PAVA spray on children in prison
The Howard League is a national charity campaigning for less crime, safer communities and fewer people in prison.
www.crowdjustice.com
April 24, 2025 at 11:02 AM
gemabbott.bsky.social
We can’t stand by and let this happen

Please support @thehowardleague.bsky.social’s fundraiser to challenge this decision 🙏

www.crowdjustice.com/case/stop-th...
April 24, 2025 at 10:33 AM
gemabbott.bsky.social
“We condemn the decision to introduce PAVA spray into children’s prisons” - @thehowardleague.bsky.social

The Howard League will take whatever steps necessary, including legal action, to challenge this decision

howardleague.org/news/howard-...
The Howard League | Howard League responds to use of PAVA against children in prison
The Howard League for Penal Reform has responded to condemn the government’s decision to introduce PAVA spray for use against children in prison, announced today (Thursday 24 April).
howardleague.org
April 24, 2025 at 10:20 AM
gemabbott.bsky.social
Govt has just has announced that PAVA spray will be authorised for use in children’s prisons

Hard to imagine a more profound failure than arming prison officers in the name of keeping children safe

Follow @thehowardleague.bsky.social for updates across the day

howardleague.org/do-not-let-p...
The Howard League | Don’t let PAVA spray be used on children
PAVA spray: Join the Howard League campaign against its use on children in prison
howardleague.org
April 24, 2025 at 10:04 AM
gemabbott.bsky.social
Catching up on my reading list - it’s been a while since I posted anything but I’ve enjoyed quite a few new books of late

This was my favourite by far👇💙📚

Wondering what to start on next - anyone got any recommendations?
gemabbott.bsky.social Gemma Abbott @gemabbott.bsky.social · Apr 18
Book 53/? - Greta and Valdin by Rachel R Reilly

I absolutely loved this. It’s funny, smart, moving and interesting. It’s mostly about relationships - with family, partners, places, self. Highly, highly recommended

💙📚
A photo of this book resting on a pink surface against a dark teal wall. The book is pink, with a large mesh shopping bag - full of limes and starting to tear - dominating the page. The title is in bold letters above and below the lines. The author’s name is in red bold font below.
April 18, 2025 at 7:54 PM
gemabbott.bsky.social
Another glorious book from the #WomensPrize long list. I adored this👇 💙📚
gemabbott.bsky.social Gemma Abbott @gemabbott.bsky.social · Mar 14
Book 41/? - Amma by Saraid de Silva

Extraordinary. It weaves together the experiences of three generations of one family, across time and place, fractured and bound by history and trauma, dealing with sexual and racial violence. Lyrical and evocative, hopeful as well as heartbreaking 💙📚
Screenshot of this book cover. It is an ombré rainbow from pink to blue to yellow to green in ice-cream shades. On the front is a beautiful tree in black, with branches and leaves spreading symmetrically across the page. Out of the bottom of the trunk is the title. The author’s name is below, against the green.
March 14, 2025 at 4:18 PM
gemabbott.bsky.social
Anyone in charge of the Scottish history curriculum?!👇🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿💙
gemabbott.bsky.social Gemma Abbott @gemabbott.bsky.social · Mar 10
Book 40/? - Clear by Carys Davies

Beautiful, tender, this short novel aches with compassion and loneliness and hope. 150 pages of perfection

As well as its humanity, it did more for my interest in Scottish history and language than a school-career of lessons. Put this on the curriculum! 💙📚
A copy of this paperback resting on a grey tartan rug (with an orange stripe). The cover is largely of a grey, tumultuous sky, which gives way to a foggy sea and up close, a dark rowing boat and a person in shadow leaning against it, their arms crossed. The book title is in bold blue letters across the middle; the author’s name on the bottom right hand side in a brighter blue. There are multiple reviews across the page: - “Riveting” Sarah Jessica Parker - “a tender, humane book” Sunday Times - “A masterful, discreetly sublime book” Hernan Diaz - “A writer of immense talent” Guardian - “not to be missed” Annie Proulx
March 10, 2025 at 9:15 PM
gemabbott.bsky.social
So glad to have the Women’s Prize long list to work through - I’ve already read a few but plenty new names to add to my wish list!

This was an excellent start👇

#WomensPrize2025 💙📚
gemabbott.bsky.social Gemma Abbott @gemabbott.bsky.social · Mar 8
Book 38/? - Black Butterflies by Priscilla Morris

I chose this from the Women’s Prize long list and found it extraordinary

Set amongst the horrors of the siege of Sarajevo, it is brutal and beautiful

Deeply moving - I can’t get it out of my head

💙📚
A screenshot of the cover of this book. It is a beautiful, colourful scene that could be flowers but when you focus you realise they are flames and explosions - a riot of yellow, orange, red, pink, green, purple and black. The title and author’s name are in a simple white font in the middle.
March 8, 2025 at 4:40 PM
gemabbott.bsky.social
If you usually find audiobooks a struggle, I couldn’t recommend this more👇

The accents (oh the accents!) - I could never have brought this to life so vividly in my own head. Loved it 💙📚
gemabbott.bsky.social Gemma Abbott @gemabbott.bsky.social · Feb 22
Book 30/? - Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon

This is the PERFECT audiobook - read by the author with so much life and humour. It’s so clever, educational even, and so bloody funny

One of those ones where you find you miss the characters when you’re finished - highly recommended

#BookSky
A copy of this book in hardback, resting on a yellow chevron-striped wool blanket. The book is bright yellow, with a large black jug on the front. There are two naked men in black - one on the left of the jug is touching the side of it. The other, with a beard, rests against the right of the jug, looking spent. The title is in large, white, embossed letters in the middle of the jug. The author’s name is written in script below the title. There are three reviews on the jug: - “Bold and totally unexpected. I was hooked from the first page” Douglas Stuart - “Madly ambitious. Shockingly funny. Just glorious” Emma Donoghue - “Very special, very clever, very entertaining” Roddy Doyle
February 23, 2025 at 11:13 AM
gemabbott.bsky.social
After a lovely half-term, I’m catching up on this little (pleasurable) job I have set myself, of documenting everything I read this year

A small flurry is incoming

This inserted itself at the top of my list due to glowing reviews - I enjoyed it👇
gemabbott.bsky.social Gemma Abbott @gemabbott.bsky.social · Feb 22
Book 28/? - The Boyhood of Cain by Michael Amherst

I listened to this across one long, jet-lagged day. It was everything the reviews acclaim - evocative, beautiful, searing. I found the protagonist frustrating, ridiculous, sometimes unbearably sweet

Highly recommended

#BookSky #TheBoyhoodOfCain
Screenshot of the audiobook cover. It is a cream square, with a small photo in the centre - the photo is of a small child in shadow, wearing a backpack, looking across a misty meadow at a building. The sun is low and golden, the sky changes from pale yellow to anaemic blue.
February 22, 2025 at 1:28 PM
Reposted by Gemma Abbott
smfthinktank.bsky.social
👩‍⚖️No other country with assisted dying requires judicial review.

While several questions remain on the assisted dying bill, the coming amendment improves safety standards, having judges in a more suitable position, @gideonsalutin.bsky.social explains👇
www.smf.co.uk/commentary_p...
Judges' smaller role in assisted dying will strengthen safety
SMF's Gideon Salutin explains why Kim Leadbeater MP's proposed changes to assisted dying bill will improve safety standards.
www.smf.co.uk
February 12, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Reposted by Gemma Abbott
dignityindying.org.uk
It's only right that @kimleadbeatermp.bsky.social responds to the evidence heard in Committee and works to improve the Bill.

This proposed change strikes a balance between choice for dying people and building in safety measures.
The Guardian (@theguardian.com)
I’m changing my bill to ensure people have the right to a dignified death – here’s how | Kim Leadbeater…
buff.ly
February 11, 2025 at 9:30 AM
gemabbott.bsky.social
My favourite book this year - highly recommended👇
gemabbott.bsky.social Gemma Abbott @gemabbott.bsky.social · Feb 12
Book 25/? - My Friends by Hisham Matar

I LOVED this. The audiobook is read by the author and it is utterly beautiful. His voice and words are poetic and resonant, so soothing even as he deals with war and exile and heartbreak

I now want to read everything he’s ever written!

#BookSky #MyFriends
A screen grab of the cover of this book from audible. The background is a black and white photo, wither real or staged, which I think depicts the protest outside the Libyan embassy in London from 1984 where the protestors were shot and PC Yvonne Fletcher was killed. There is a young man with dark hair and thick eyebrows, staring just past the camera. There is a yellow circle in the middle of the image, on top of which the author’s name in red is bold. The book title is below in white.
February 12, 2025 at 6:43 PM
gemabbott.bsky.social
I posted my list out of order and it’s really annoying but the main thing is that you should read this - immediately - if you haven’t already. So good
gemabbott.bsky.social Gemma Abbott @gemabbott.bsky.social · Feb 12
Book 25/? - My Friends by Hisham Matar

I LOVED this. The audiobook is read by the author and it is utterly beautiful. His voice and words are poetic and resonant, so soothing even as he deals with war and exile and heartbreak

I now want to read everything he’s ever written!

#BookSky #MyFriends
A screen grab of the cover of this book from audible. The background is a black and white photo, wither real or staged, which I think depicts the protest outside the Libyan embassy in London from 1984 where the protestors were shot and PC Yvonne Fletcher was killed. There is a young man with dark hair and thick eyebrows, staring just past the camera. There is a yellow circle in the middle of the image, on top of which the author’s name in red is bold. The book title is below in white.
February 12, 2025 at 2:53 PM
gemabbott.bsky.social
Set across one soaked day in a suffocating neighbourhood, I’m not sure Arlington Park could have felt more apt.

I hadn’t read Rachel Cusk before. I was left both impressed and wincing by how precisely and mercilessly she skewers middle class suburbia and its unhappy mothers. Brutal

#BookSky
gemabbott.bsky.social Gemma Abbott @gemabbott.bsky.social · Feb 12
Book 26/? - Arlington Park by Rachel Cusk

“The rain fell at the window. It was so grey, so grey and unavailing! It was like sorrow: it seemed to preclude every possibility, every other shade of feeling.”

This pretty much sums up both the book and the month of February

#BookSky #RachelCusk
A photo of a paperback copy of this book sitting on a walnut brown table. The cover is an anaemic eggshell blue with a large photo of a goldfish in what looks like the inside of a plastic bag (like if you won it at a fair). The title is in simple black caps at the top of the book and the author’s name at the foot.
February 12, 2025 at 2:41 PM
gemabbott.bsky.social
It’s been a while since I read something that made me laugh out loud

Ideally it wouldn’t have been a noisy snort in a busy restaurant but these things happen I guess
gemabbott.bsky.social Gemma Abbott @gemabbott.bsky.social · Feb 7
Book 23/? - The History of My Sexuality by Tobi Lakmaker

This made me laugh out loud on several occasions (including the paragraph in the photo). Somehow both bleak *and* uplifting

#BookSky #Reading
A copy of this book in paperback sitting on a walnut sideboard. The book is a bright blue, with a darker blue outline of someone with short hair and open eyes lying down, resting their head on their outstretched arm, gazing at another person, who has small rosebud lips and long hair. The title is pink, the author’s name yellow. There is a review that says “Funny, joyous and wholly irreverent” - Irish Times A photo of a paragraph from the book that says “After Walter came, he said, 'Will you promise me that we'll never do it like this again?' He was referring to the fact that we hadn't used a condom. I can't remember why we didn't - its not like we were caught up in the heat of the moment. The whole thing took hours. I used to tell people that I lost my virginity to 'Everywhere by Fleetwood Mac, and it's true that the song did play at some point, but really, I lost my virginity to the entire history of Western pop.”
February 7, 2025 at 1:16 PM
gemabbott.bsky.social
The sky and the rain and the sea have blurred into one another like a watercolour today
A photo of the skeletal West Pier in Brighton, which is surrounded by grey-blue water and sky
February 7, 2025 at 12:24 PM
Reposted by Gemma Abbott
dignityindying.org.uk
"It is extremely important to get the details of the legislation right, and enhance it where necessary...but we must also not lose sight of the fact that the current legal situation is unacceptable and deeply problematic"
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
Assisted dying amendment requires doctors to raise all other options first
Proposed change follows concerns by experts about protection from coercion and measuring mental capacity
www.theguardian.com
February 5, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Reposted by Gemma Abbott
matthewengland.bsky.social
Rolling news: Kim Leadbeater tables 56 amendments to assisted dying bill
• strengthening training requirements, inc on capacity
• requiring doctors to draft a detailed report assessing a patient
• leaving forms to regulations

Summary below ⬇️
www.hansardsociety.org.uk/publications...
Assisted dying - The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill: Rolling news
Stay informed with updates and analysis on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill as it moves through Parliament. Learn about the debates, procedures, decisions, and key milestones shaping the a...
www.hansardsociety.org.uk
February 5, 2025 at 8:26 PM