New Prisons aren’t the Answer

The Government’s plans to expand the prison service by creating new buildings to house offenders have been the source of much public discussion and debate. In my view, this initiative is similar to the adding of an extra lane to a busy motorway - it doesn’t address the issue of traffic and offers only a short term solution before demand increases and the congestion returns.

From my experience working in criminal law and the courts, I support those who demand a review of the legal process, sentencing guidelines and the power of the courts. There is an increasingly urgent need re-examine how custodial punishments are used and introduce restriction and uniformity to how courts issue them.

Please don’t mistake my wishes for asking that offenders ‘get off lightly’ or noone should ever be incarcerated, but I believe that prison is supposed to be a last resort - the ultimate punishment - that protects the public (and sometimes the person themselves) from the threat of a dangerous individual.

The Government could save the billions of pounds allocated to building new prisons by introducing reforms with regard to the use of custodial sentences.

Courts should be encouraged to use the many alternative punishments offered by the National Probation Service wherever possible, such as electronic tagging and supervision orders. Recent statistics show that only 4% of supervised or tagged individuals reoffend as opposed to the massive 67% of prisoners which do. It also cost the taxpayer £40,000 a year to house and look after just one serving prisoner.

Community Punishment Orders’, for example, are tailor-made ‘packages’ that are able to enforce a period of supervision and impose specific requirements to address an individuals offending behaviour such as ‘Enhanced Thinking Skills’ whilst restricting their liberty to a degree. These orders can be extremely testing, and are by no means an ‘easy option’.

The full spectrum of this type of punishment should be used much more, but the Probation Service like many other vital resources is both understaffed and under-funded. This is where the Government’s money should go.

If our prison system were a commercial company, its resource issues and increase in demand would have been anticipated and plans would have been made to diversify its offering in order to cope. We must review our sentencing framework alternatives and quickly because the issue of punishment will not be solved by the building of new prisons.