Opinion: Time to take a fresh look at prisons

Reforming the way we manage offenders has been consigned to the realm of slogans for too long, writes u/SoSaturnistic.

JUST over one year ago we witnessed the collapse of the ‘Sunrise’ coalition government, the last administration to feature a dedicated minister responsible for the task of “prison reform”. Indeed, 2019 was an important year for the prisons system with multiple laws passed to address inadequacies in prisons, from their standards to their ownership (not all were necessarily progressive, with one Act restricting prisoner voting rights. None of these measures were brought in by the Sunrise government and that ministerial position seems to have been more or less ineffectual, but it is the last time that we saw the government of the day attempt to openly hint at the prospect of reforming the system as it presently exists in England.

This phenomenon is somewhat bizarre, given that the call for “prison reform” has often been a call to action which the left, or at least notionally progressive causes, have often found themselves rallying around. The left has long struggled against causes where power is abused and ill-treatment is rife. Historically and in the present day, many of the more inhumane cases of state abuse of power can be found within the prisons system. It is therefore not clear to me why this cause vanished as a significant point of interest. Even with reforms to end solitary confinement, return prisons to state management, and add a few educational resources, the basic structure and look of the prisons system is broadly the same as it was in 2014 when politics began to change substantially from many historical trends.

This lull in interest in prisons may be changing, regardless of motivations and reasons for disappearance in the past due to current constitutional changes. The devolution of justice policy to Wales, including matters relating to prisons, has brought a new focus to the prisons system. Discussions relating to prisons did feature within that referendum campaign, but now there is new urgency due to recent political calls for an orderly untangling of HM Prison Service in England and the nascent prison service in Wales. There is an understanding among many corners that putting excessive burdens on prisoners during this process is undesirable, which is why a memorandum of understanding was signed between Cardiff Bay and Westminster and why peers have had ample discussion in the House of Lords on managing the transition; one particular point of interest is addressing the situation with women prisoners given that no women’s facilities currently exist in Wales. Even the new unionist think-tank, Home Nations, has weighed in on providing solutions to the prisons conundrum in Wales. Yet so far, it is clear that few in this discussion have tried to put forward a newer model for managing offenders. Much of the concern remains over prison places rather than overall crime reduction and enhancement of public welfare.

It is important that we move away from this myopic view of prisons where political leaders concern themselves with comfortably fitting as many people as possible within prison rather than delivering outcomes which enhance justice, improve safety, and limit social costs. Of course in the short term, facilities to incapacitate those who provide a clear danger to public safety will be needed when we address offending. Imprisonment within the right facilities can be justified in these circumstances. Yet prison has real costs which must be reckoned with when these decisions are made. Imprisonment is not the only response to every crime, with rehabilitation, alternative justice mechanisms, or probation being appropriate means to deliver justice while maintaining public safety in many cases. Where possible, it is worth focusing on these alternative approaches to offenders as imprisonment is not a costless exercise.

These costs are as varied as they are substantial. Imprisonment has negative public finance implications both directly (recall the continued calls for more prison places) and indirectly as people are banned from meaningfully participating in the economy and do not generate tax revenue. Beyond this, imprisonment is associated with heightened re-offending (which has its own costs for victims and society) not only with the individuals in question but also within the immediate family, in particular young boys. And this does not begin to address the negative impacts that imprisonment has on the offenders and their families themselves, with violence, self-harm, drug abuse, and suicide all much more likely within prisons than outside of them. These harmful outcomes all act to limit any chance of re-integration into society and lead to the conclusion that excessive imprisonment suppresses potentially productive members of society and reinforces cycles of poverty, very often concentrated among communities which already face additional barriers in society such as poorer people, those with disabilities, and BAME people. It need not be like this when one considers that England and Wales have long had among the highest per capita prison rates in Europe; we have plenty of alternatives right in front of us. When this is all put into context, it is hard to view our current system as anything more than a deep moral failure. In particular, it is difficult to justify the current focus of those who would seek to manage the prison estate on expanding the total number of prison places rather than improving the quality of current facilities and rededicating funds to alternative options to incarceration that keep recidivism rates down.

Recognising the net-harm of excessive imprisonment has already been done to some extent with the debate on drug criminalisation. This discussion which arose in the House of Commons not so long ago featured many impassioned speeches decrying the costs of prohibition for many substances used recreationally. While the costs of imprisonment were identified as one cost of drug prohibition in that context, it seems many have forgotten that this is an area where substantial savings have been made in the criminal justice system. Around 15% of sentenced offenders were once drug offenders prior to the Drug Reform Act’s passage in 2015. While there are still offences related to drugs on our statutes, this substantial reform has meant that a fairly large burden has been lifted from the prison estate and it opens up resources to be used on improving our criminal justice system to enhance safety and promote a more just society.

As a start, basic facility investments to improve safety in prisons would be welcome, as would conversion of existing prison places to smaller, more geographically dispersed facilities to make visitation more accessible across England. We could develop and fund better alternatives to a prison sentence for judges to use, and start with juvenile offenders to divert young people away from criminal paths earlier in life. Germany’s model here could be an example for a way forward; the possibilities are quite open-ended and can be better tailored to our context. Setting forth a plan to phase in Norweigian-style prisons which aim to “normalise” life and limit exposure to disruptions that hinder re-integration could also be in order. In the longer term, once offending has dropped in a way seen in European counterparts like Norway and the Netherlands, it would be possible to look at the closure of existing prison facilities and a reduction in overall prison places, yielding not only wider benefits to society but also an improvement in our public finances.

Given the substantial and wide-ranging challenge ahead to change the way we deal with offenders, this will require a sustained and cross-party approach to address the issue in any serious manner. I have set forth a few compelling proposals here, but they are in no way all-encompassing and there are other alternatives to imprisonment which have not been discussed. While Parliament is set to adjourn and the last sitting days of the year are upon us, I hope this will be an area where robust discussion is had and real action is undertaken in the new year. With six years of change in so many areas, it is surely time to give prisons the revamp that we all need.

u/SoSaturnistic is a contributor at the Morning Star and sits with Solidarity at Westminster.