Sally Benton’s response to the government’s early release scheme
Reporters gathered outside prison gates, eager for a story, primed with questions of various degrees of intrusion and prurience.
‘What’s it like inside?’
‘What were you in for?’
‘Will you now stop offending?’
They are reasonable questions on the surface. But for those of us who regularly visit or work in prisons, the questions that need asking of our criminal justice system are much deeper — and certainly more useful than stories of popping champagne corks.
Our prisons are full of diligent staff, working day and night under incredibly stressful, challenging conditions, to keep prisoners safe and help them turn their lives around — for their own good and for the benefit of society.
Britain’s prisons are in dire straits, no doubt. In many, a flourishing drug market, gang violence, and overcrowding not only hobble any attempt to build a culture of rehabilitation but essentially undermine the justice system itself.
It was expected and understood that if prison overcrowding reached this point, the government would have no other choice than to release early. We understand this is not always an easy decision to make, nor is it popular with some vocal sections of the media.
But beyond these recent headlines about early release and overcrowding, there is a more pressing topic which demands attention. What’s really going on behind the prison walls? This is a world where most people do not go, never experience first-hand, and where media cannot easily reach. Consequently, its narratives receive far too little attention.
On the other side of those walls — and despite the best efforts of so many incredible people — too many prisoners are locked up for 23 hours a day. They have limited access to addiction or mental health treatment, education, counselling, and training for useful skills. Waiting lists keep growing for services like Forward’s drug treatment wings because many prisoners are desperately reaching out for a different life. They want (and should expect) the chance to turn a corner and live safely in the prison environment. Where is the hope that is essential for anyone looking to turn their life around? Because to turn a corner – there has to be hope.
This situation must not continue to be the norm. It makes no sense to have a prison population with high levels of drug dependency and poor mental health… and yet simultaneously offer such limited access to treatment and interventions. The predictable result is that prison drug markets continue to flourish. Why wouldn’t they, given the ready access that drug gangs enjoy to people who are already dependent on what they sell?
The reality is, if we do not find a way for people in prison to move forward, away from their offending and its root causes, then reoffending rates will continue to climb. The conveyor belt in and out of the justice system will persist, as will the disgraceful impact this cycle of crime has on families and children across the UK.
Prisons have reached a crisis point. The government has rightly acted. But this mustn’t be the end of their action. Early release can only work, for both prisoners and society, if we at the same time help individuals to overcome their problems with addiction, homelessness, and lack of education and work prospects which too often accompany these problems. ‘Rehabilitation’ is only possible when people feel optimistic, and when a future of genuine opportunity for them is realistic.
This could be a moment to plot a different path forward. For prisons to become places of rehabilitation, work, and change; and for more prisoners to be allowed to grow into something much more than their pasts.
Our prison system was built on a firm belief in the potential for people to change. We should not abandon this. By working with dedicated prison staff across the country to implement a consistent, intelligent blueprint to tackle drug supply and demand, we can find our way to a different future.