Tony Hatfield's Retired Ramblings

Prison works

For those who believe the bilious opinions emanating from some newspapers, about how soft are our judges when it comes to locking up criminals, ought to examine the evidence. The Prison Reform Trust fact file dated December 2004 contains well collated government statistics to give a true and fair view of the position. Most people are aware that England and Wales has a high prison population, but I wonder how many are aware that the prison population is now reached 75,145- a rate of 141 per 100,000. This is the highest rate in Western Europe. In Germany and France the comparable figures are 98 and 93, respectively. Yet neither of those countries have significantly higher rates of crime, in any category you choose. But it’s not just the overall total. Since May 1997, the day when Tony Blair was to put in place the “tough on crime tough on the causes of crime”, the prison population has leapt by 25,000. To fill the jails at that rate took the entire previous four decades (1954-1994). And if you want to know how much this all costs, get the calculator out and multiply that 75,145 by 37,305. The result is the amount in pounds it cost to keep prisoners in custody this year! According to the Home Office, on the 19th November 2004 28,360 men were incarcerated serving sentences of four years and over, more than half (56%) of the sentenced male prison population. This was a rise of 94% on the 1994 figure. “In terms of custody rates, in the magistrates courts offenders are three times more likely to go to prison compared to ten years ago, and in the crown court almost twice as likely.” So much for soft sentences! And remember all that odium heaped on the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Woolf, when he had the temerity to suggest that burglars need not receive an immediate custodial sentence? Well, according to official statistics, the reality is that between 1994 and November 2004, the average sentence length for burglars has increased from 16 to 18 months. It can be argued, though the facts don’t back this up, that with a relatively long sentence the offender has a chance at rehabilitation thereby reducing victims 0f their crime. But the Prison Service is just burning our taxes when dealing with short-term inmates. “Between 1993 and 2003, the number of adults sent to prison for sentences of less than 12 months, more than doubled fro 21,000 to 49,000. In 2003 over half of those sent to prison were there for jail terms of 6 months or less. These Home Office Figures refer to the sentences handed down by the courts. They will be subject to 50% remission. But the truly horrifying statistics are those to be found in the Prime Minister’s Exclusion Unit’s Report of July 2002. It’s called “Reducing re-offending by ex-prisoners”. The average prisoner is 10 times more likely to have truanted, and 25 times more likely to have been excluded from school: three times more likely to be illiterate and innumerate than the outside population: thirteen times more likely to be unemployed when sentenced and no less than 300 times more likely to be homeless than the general population. And by factors of 10 more likely to suffer mental disorder, alcohol and drug related problems. Is it any wonder that prison has a poor rate in reducing re-offending? Nearly 60% of prisoners are reconvicted within two years of release! The Home Office are projecting a prison population reaching between 91,400 and 109,600 by the year 2010. The final words on this must go to research by Tony Blair’s Strategy Unit highlighted in the Carter report (Managing Offenders, Reducing Crime”, December 2003. The 22% increase in the prison population since 1997 is estimated to have reduced crime by about 5% during a period when overall crime fell. The report goes on: “ There is no convincing evidence that further increases in the use of custody would significantly reduce crime”.

posted by Tony @ Thursday, December 02, 2004