We’ve heard a lot about prisons in recent months; specifically, the fact that they were full when the new government took office last summer. Labour introduced emergency measures to release thousands of prisoners early, which eased the immediate pressure. The government has committed to building four new prisons as well as adding blocks to existing prisons, creating 14,000 new prison spaces over the next seven years. But when the prison system gets bigger, so do the problems within it. And none of this answers the more complicated question of what happens next.
So far, we have seen sticking-plaster solutions to a systemic crisis that has been created, in no small part, by the desire of successive governments to appear tough on crime. Any serious attempt to turn things around requires consideration of how we got here. The UK’s prison population is at record levels; it has almost doubled in the past 30 years. England and Wales have the highest per capita prison population in western Europe, and in the wider continent, only Russia and Turkey jail more people. Amid endemic overcrowding and understaffing, conditions are often poor, with inmates routinely confined to their cells – usually shared – for 23 hours a day. The suicide rate in our jails is twice the European average. Waiting lists for rehabilitative work – behaviour courses, education, training – are so long that some inmates might never access them at all. Most people would probably agree that none of this is desirable; it certainly doesn’t do much to lower the crime rate.
