The total prison population as at February 2009 was 82,586. Over twice as many as were incarcerated in the mid-nineties.Twenty prisons now routinely hold over a thousand inmates.Many are two to a cell built for one or three to a cell meant for two. And very little attempt at rehabilitation; merely containment.
One major cause has been the Criminal Justice Act 2003, which created indeterminate sentences. This basically means that a prisoner has to serve a minimum period and thereafter can only be released by permission of the Parole Board. This organisation cannot cope with the number of applicants. There is consequently a log-jam of detainees needing to be assessed and possibly released under supervision back into society.
Many of our prisons are rife with drugs and bullying. Note the Chief Inspector of Prisons comments published today about a Victorian gaol that I have visited, namely Parkhurst.
Is this country really so different from other Western European democracies that imprison fewer of their citizens by a percentage of their populations? Do increasingly longer sentences work? I think not.
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