On the 18th June 2020, Cambridge Police published news that a dispersal order has been issued for the Mill Road area, “in a bid to reduce anti-social behaviour’. This is apparently in response to ’persistent and aggressive begging’, people ‘sleeping in the middle of pavements’, and ‘disrupting local businesses while under the influence of alcohol’, as well as fights in the area and an increase in littering. PC Adam Price said, “the behaviour is having a detrimental effect on the quality of life of residents, visitors and business owners in the area. The dispersal order gives us the power to make those causing the anti-social behaviour leave the area with immediate effect and not to return within a specified period.” We appreciate that Cambridge Police are attempting to keep the residents of the Mill Road Area safe. However, many of those accused of “anti-social behaviour” are residents, including those without a fixed address. While they are residing in the area, they are residents too and deserve to be protected. If this dispersal order has been made in the name of “residents’ quality of life”, surely the local residents in most urgent need of support to maintain a decent quality of life are those experiencing homelessness? We fail to see how compelling them to leave the area under threat of arrest offers any solution to the problems which have led to their having to sleep on the pavements of Mill Road. The dispersal order also cited public alcohol abuse and drunkenness. Again, we fail to see how criminalising those experiencing addiction offers any kind of solution to the structural social problems which may have resulted in individuals behaving in this way. We are aware that the dispersal order was made under Section 35 of the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, which has come under widespread criticism for stigmatising vulnerable members of society. Research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation found that dispersal orders brought in under ABCPA’s predecessor act, the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003, was as much about providing an “important symbolic response that something concrete is being done to address local concerns about anti-social behaviour and perceptions of incivility [...] as such, the power is potentially less concerned with the agency of individuals than the assumptions that are made about what they might do.” Section 35 powers allow police officers to order people to leave an area under threat of arrest in order to prevent members of the public feeling “harassed, alarmed or distressed”. As residents of the Mill Road area, we would like to state publicly that we are not alarmed or distressed by individuals experiencing homelessness; we are, on the contrary, alarmed and distressed by this dispersal order’s criminalisation of homelessness, which stigmatises and displaces our area’s most vulnerable residents, further perpetuating the problems they face. The current pandemic has exacerbated the issues faced by people experiencing homelessness - both by impacting services available to them, and by increasing feelings of anxiety and isolation. At the same time, it has shown all of us the importance of community, and supporting the most vulnerable in our society. This dispersal order therefore feels like particularly bad timing, and in contradiction to what is most needed at this time. A commitment to address the underlying needs instead of relying on dispersal orders will benefit the Mill Road community, not only now but in the future. We are aware that the order expires on the morning of Saturday 20th June. We demand that no such order is ever issued again in our area by Cambridge police. Instead, we call on Cambridge City Council to hold an urgent consultation with people rough sleeping on Mill Road, as well as any relevant support workers, to identify what support is needed to address these issues in a compassionate, sustainable and long-term way. We call for a budget to provide any support needs which are identified in the course of the consultation. The consultation must be run in a way that is accessible for all stakeholders. It must not rely on people having access to the internet, coming into inaccessible premises, or making themselves vulnerable to arrest by coming into contact with police. The needs and “quality of life” of everyone in the Mill Road community must be supported in a way which prioritises the most vulnerable and does not make being homeless a crime.

The system needs to evolve with every decision we make to make it suited to our time. This is not happening.

BECAUSE THIS COUTRY WE NEVER HAVE PACE AND JUSTICE OF THE EVENTS HAVE BEEN HAPPENING AROUND THE WORLD. #BLACK LIVES MATTER WE US IN A BLACK COMMUNITY WE FELT LIKE THE GOVERNMENT IS NOT DOING ANY THING ABOUT THE SITUATION. I FOUND THIS DISGRACEFUL AND UNDEREXTABLE THAT HE IS ALLOWED PEOPLE WALK PASS EVERY AND SEE THE STATURE REMIND US WHAT BLACK PEOPLE GO THROUGH THIS NEED TO BE TAKING DOWN.

Black Lives Matter UK manufacturers are complicit in the violence towards Americans involved in protests in the wake of the murder of George Floyd. By law, the UK government should be obligated to "freeze" the export of "all policing and security equipment" to the US where it could be misused and yet has failed to act or even to condemn police brutality in the US.

It is important as a lot of prisoners and thier family members are suffering from mental illness and depression due to the current circumstances they have gone from 2-4 visits a month for a hour/ 2 hours to none and with them on a longer lockdown where exercise is reduced to 30 minutes per day and current education is suspended they are locked in a 4x4 cell for 23 and a half hours per day and it is affecting thier mental health. And as for families they aren't able to see thier loved ones to make sure they are ok they rely on a phone call and that's if the prisoner has credit on thier private cash it is affecting people all over the country not just at HMP Berwyn.

Because Belly Mujinga was only doing her job working in public transport in London in this COVID-19 situation. She has family, friends who are devastated of her death. Her family deserve justice. The police have decided to drop the case but this needs to be reinvestigated. There was a man using London transport knowing that he had COVID-19, so he purposely spat on Belly Mujinga. She then died two weeks later. The man spat on two of the railway staff, and the other transport member also got sick, as well as Belly Mujinga who sadly died.

Prisons provide the ideal setting for contagious diseases to wreak havoc. They are crowded, cramped, often unsanitary institutions, with inadequate healthcare provision for a population often already in poor health. We also have an ageing custodial population, with many prisoners now in the age group at greatest risk of complications from Coronavirus. Many more prisoners will become seriously ill and die.

Because this is close to my heart

I think it is important because if you are an innocent victim of such a awful incident your justice system will work hard to find out the truth where a lot of countries cover up the evidence of incidents that have happened because it is in the country

The government ordered lockdown on the 24th March 2020 to stem the outbreak of Covid-19. Since then, the impact on prisoners and their families has become a cause for concern. Government guidance on social distancing, self isolating and other hygiene procedures is being applied to prisons [1]. But there is opportunity for a virus to enter into a prison and for it to also re-enter into the public. This could result in prisoners and prison staff becoming ill, which means the care of duty may be compromised. Once Covid-19 enters a prison it may spread due to the dense conditions inside the prisons [2] - it is more challenging to apply social distancing measures in confined spaces, like prisons. Covid-19 may be more difficult to control in prison environments. It’s important that prisoners receive support with government guidance, such as, on the symptoms of the virus, so they know when they need to contact medical staff. Many prisoners, like the wider population, have health conditions putting them in to the vulnerable category. Medical staff are stretched at the best of times and mental health of both staff and prisoners may suffer. Since the recent lock down all prison visits have been suspended. While completely necessary, this means the only way prisoners can have contact with the ones they love are on the phone or through letters. Provisions have not been put in place to keep family connections, for example, extra phones but as yet, nothing has happened. There are many campaigns about releasing unconvicted prisoners on remand to help reduce the dense populations in prisons. I agree with these campaigners as my loved one is one of them. These men and women are, as the law states, “Innocent until proven guilty”. The media is filled with concern, closing schools, cancelling sporting events etc. but little has been said about the most vulnerable sectors of our population, the people in our prisons. These men and women are forgotten about. When will someone see the importance for prisoners to be able to keep up with family bonds. Prisoners aren’t just a number on a spread sheet or a figure of statistic, they are human beings just like you and I . [1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-prisons-and-other-prescribed-places-of-detention-guidance/covid-19-prisons-and-other-prescribed-places-of-detention-guidance [2] https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/apr/07/coronavirus-thrive-british-jails-prisoners-face-death-sentence

Prisons have suffered severe cuts in funding which has resulted in prisoners suffering mentally. As you may be aware, re-offending rate has been higher than ever with 60% of prisoners re-offending. With lack of support due to cuts, can you blame them? By signing a petition, you make the government aware of this rising epidemic to all prisoners. Improving the mental health of prisoners is a difficult and complex task, but it is an essential step to reducing re-offending and ensuring that those who are released from prison can rebuild their lives in the community. Despite this, Government’s efforts to improve the mental health of those in prison so far have been poorly co-ordinated, and information is still not shared across the organisations involved, and not even between community and prison GP services. We want to help the inmates feel like they can reform and that society is supporting them in this. We all have a responsibility to help them because we are all affected when prisoners reoffend on their release.

A persons dignity