Think About It
Will more prisons reduce crime?
Earlier this year, the then Home Secretary said that his first priority in fighting crime was to develop more prison places - because that is what the public wants. But is it?
Recent polls of public attitudes have shown that the British public is not so pro-prison as is commonly supposed, or as the tabloid press would have us believe. Several polls commissioned over three years by the charity Rethinking Crime & Punishment showed a strong preference for prevention as the way to reduce crime - better parenting, more police, better discipline in schools - while only eight per cent thought that more imprisonment was the answer.
Rehabilitation was the most favoured objective of sentencing, coupled with strategies to reduce re-offending, and community punishments. Another recent survey, of the attitudes of victims, found that 62 per cent did not believe that prison prevented re-offending. Over 80 per cent favoured more constructive activities, better supervision for non-violent offenders and more treatment programmes.
Baroness Linklater referred to these findings during a debate in the House of Lords, recalling the introduction of community service in the 1970's. "I saw it at first hand in those early days," she said, "when I was involved in starting the first visitors' centre for prisoners' families at Pentonville, and we had the first women on community service. They came and helped us to look after the families and visitors of prisoners - a very salutary experience for girls who could have been on the other side of the high wall themselves."
At any one time, there are around 150,000 children who lose a parent to prison. They are significantly more likely to become ensnared in the criminal justice system themselves.
The Social Exclusion Unit has estimated that the cost to the country of current re-offending is £11 billion. The 8,000 more prison places promised to meet the overcrowding crisis will take several years to build, by which time that too will be inadequate. Constructing the new prisons will cost £1.5 billion. Is that really a good investment?
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