Throw away the keys?

So, the criminal justice system is again under the spotlight. In particular, the way we deal with offenders and the prison system itself is coming in for a deal of criticism. This stems from the fact that there are about 3 prison places left in the UK, leading the Home Secretary to beg judges not to bang up any more people. The response from the tabloids has been typical and typically depressing.

There is however one flaw in the argument that we should lock more people up for the ‘good of society’. It is a massive, gaping and obvious flaw, yet one that is overlooked every time this particular debate makes the front pages. It is this, the assumption that prison works.

Prison does not work.

According to Reform, the reoffending rate for all offenders is 61%, meaning that 61% of people released from prison will be back inside within 24 months. The rate is 73% for all offenders aged 15-18 and a massive 82% for male offenders in this age group. Is this a tale of success, something we should be proud of? If for example, 24 months after leaving hospital 61% of people were back on the same ward with the same complaint, would we consider the NHS a success? If 61% of people died in a road accident within two years of taking their driving test, would we consider driving tests to be top notch? I very much doubt it.

Prisons are full of people who are, in the main, amongst the most disadvantaged in society. Prisons contain the uneducated, the dispossessed, those suffering from drug and alcohol addiction, the mentally ill who are unable to find appropriate treatment in the ‘real world’ and so are sent to prison to be kept out of harms way. Some of this may be the individual’s own fault, but don’t people deserve a second chance? Of course prisons also contain violent, dangerous and repeat offenders, people who do need to be removed from society for the good of us all, but they are a fraction of the total.

What prisons need to do, what they must do is reform. If a person enters prison unable to read or write, they must leave able to read and write. If a person enters prison addicted to hard drugs, they must leave clean. Only then do they have a chance of re-entering society on equal terms with the rest of us. They will then be able to contribute to society rather than drawing from society.

This radical departure from the perceived wisdom would of course take more political will than any party has shown in recent years. The problem is that the results would not be immediate. It would take a couple of years maybe for there to be a drop in the reoffending rate and hence a fall in overall crime and a reduction in the massive cost to society both fiscal and physical. The tabloids demand action now and our leaders respond with more of the same, giving no regard to the realities of a situation. Do we really want to be governed by the Daily M**l?