Michael Howard once famously adopted a saying in America, and used it out of context over here, to claim that prison works. In what ways can it be claimed to work, and what evidence is there to support this? If we take the limited view of individual deterrence, it is true that whilst an offender is incarcerated s/he is not in a position to commit any crime outside of prison during the period of incarceration. But, this does not affect general deterrence because others will still be committing crimes outside. In addition, if the offender does not address the offending behaviour and the system just acts as a penal dustbin, there is a danger that the offender comes out worse than when s/he went into prison.
In the same way that a teacher cannot teach a class of 60 pupils, the penal estate has become too large to manage effectively. Smaller, more manageable prisons, with a smaller, more manageable prison population, is a small step in the right direction. Because prisoners are individuals, they need individual treatment programmes. This one size fits all does not work with clothes, why should it work on something as complicated as personalities?
To be continued...
A mixture of law, politics, autobiography and humour. Once described as "The Devilish Advocate" (Guardian), I do have the ability to provoke a response. Sometimes it comes from someone who uses a thought process, and sometimes from jerks usually associated with the knee.
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