What is prison for?

WHAT IS PRISON FOR?
Andrew Neilson, Assistant Director, Public Affairs and Policy

What is prison for?
Punishment
Public protection
Deterrence
Rehabilitation

What do people have to say about prison?
‘The degree of civilisation in a society can be judged by entering its prisons’ - Fyodor Dostoevsky
‘The first real principle which should guide anyone trying to establish a good system of prisons would be to prevent as many people as possible getting there at all’ - Winston Churchill

How is prison used?
The past decade and a half has seen an unprecedented expansion in the English & Welsh prison population
In 1994, the average prison population was 48,631
On Friday 16 October 2009 the English & Welsh prison population reached an all time high of 84,711

Many thousands of new prison places have been built…

What has caused this growth in prison numbers?
A 78% increase in the use of immediate custodial sentences
A 19% increase in those sent to prison for breaches of parole licence and community supervision

People are also spending longer in prison
The average time served in prison has increased by 14% since 2000
The proportion of the sentenced prison population serving indeterminate or life sentences increasing from 9% in 1995 to 19% in 2009
England & Wales has more prisoners serving these open-ended sentences than the rest of western Europe combined

Legislation has had its part to play…

Do crime rates have any bearing on prison numbers?

Not necessarily...

Does prison reduce reoffending?

Who do our prisons hold?
Around 55% of prisoners are considered ‘problematic drug users’
One in five prisoners report opiate use in prison, many for the first time
27% of prisoners are BME - compared to one in eleven of the general population
48% of prisoners are at, or below, the level expected of an 11 year old in reading, 65% in numeracy and 82% in writing

Mental health is a major concern
Over one third of men serving prison sentences have a significant mental health problem
One in four attempt suicide in prison
Self injury rates in prison increased by 37% between 2003 and 2007 - four times the increase in the prison population
Women committed 54% of this self injury, despite the fact that only 5% of the prison population is female

Women in prison
Women in prison are twenty times more likely to suffer from delusional or schizophrenic disorders than women in the general population
Over half of women in prison have suffered domestic abuse and one in three have been victims of sexual abuse
Nearly a third of women in prison have no previous convictions, more than double the proportion of men

Children in prison
Two out of five girls and one out of four boys in prison report violence at home
One in three girls and one in 20 boys in custody have histories of sexual abuse
40% of children in prison have been homeless

Prison fails children
Over a third of children report feeling unsafe in custody
75% of children leaving custody will go on to reoffend, the highest for any age group

What are prison population rates?
International prison population rates are measured per 100,000 of the general population
The median prison population rate for Western Europe in 2008 was 95 prisoners per 100,000 of the general population

UK prison population rates
The English & Welsh prison rate in 2008 was 153 prisoners per 100,000
Scotland’s prison rate in 2008 was 152 prisoners per 100,000
Northern Ireland’s prison rate in 2008 was 88 prisoners per 100,000

Some other countries...
France (96)
Germany (89)
Republic of Ireland (76)
Norway (69)
Finland (64)
Iceland (44)

England & Wales is an outlier in Western Europe

How overcrowded are our prisons?
The prison system in England and Wales has been overcrowded for every year since 1994
At the end of July 2009, 88 prisons were officially overcrowded
Around 19,000 prisoners – almost one in four – are currently sharing cells designed for one person

What is the government and opposition saying?
The government is committed to building another 10,500 new prison places to reach 96,000 prison places by 2014
This will include five new 1,500 place prisons, the largest in the country
The Conservatives pledge to build a further 5,000 prison places on top of this by selling off ageing Victorian jails and using the money to fund further new prisons

A word of warning...

No jurisdiction has ever built its way out of overcrowding

A vision for change
Less crime, safer communities, fewer people in prison

There is growing concern at ever-increasing prison populations
In 2007 the Scottish government set up an independent Prisons Commission to look at the purpose and impact of imprisonment in Scotland
The Commission’s final report, Scotland’s Choice , was published in 2008 and made 23 recommendations
Scotland now taking steps to reduce its prison population, including a presumption against sentences of six months or less

What about England?
In 2007 the Howard League for Penal Reform set up the Commission on English Prisons Today, with Cherie Booth QC as its President
The Commission’s final report, Do Better Do Less , was published in July 2009

What did the Commission recommend?
A significant reduction in the prison population and the closure of establishments
The replacement of short prison sentences with community-based responses
The dismantling of the National Offender Management Service (NOMS), including the break up of the centrally managed prison service

Justice reinvestment
The Commission also recommended a restructuring of the penal system on justice reinvestment principles
Local authorities would take the lead in local strategic partnerships, bringing together representatives from criminal justice, health, education and other sectors

Canada: a success story?

Spending cuts...
In 1993 the new Liberal government faced the need to reduce a $42bn deficit
As part of a strategy to reduce public spending by 20%, the government sought to reduce its spending on prison

...meant prison cuts
Between 1995 and 2004, the Canadian prison population was reduced by 11% - lowering their rate of imprisonment from 131 per 100,000 to 108 per 100,000

How did the Canadians do it?
Inserted a ‘restraint principle’ into their criminal code
Introduced conditional sentences served in the community
Developed restorative justice programmes
Speeded up the parole process

What happened to the crime rate in Canada?
Crimes rates in Canada are at their lowest for 25 years
Between 1991 and 1999 there were drops ranging from 23% in assault and robbery to 43% for homicide
The magic formula: less crime, safer communities, fewer people in prison

Thank you
www.howardleague.org

What is prison for?

by Andrew Neilson

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