21st January 2025
Prison reform is at the bottom of the pile for public spending. Out of sight is often out of mind, and there is always seemingly a worthier cause to qualify for taxpayers’ money or Government’s attention.
But the truth is, what happens in prisons affects us all. Reoffending costs the taxpayer £18 billion per year, and we spend £47,434 per prisoner, per annum, almost as much as the fees for our top boarding schools, but with very different outcomes.
For many inmates prison is a revolving door. Adults released from custodial sentences of less than 12 months had a proven reoffending rate of 55.3 per cent and almost a third (32.5 per cent) of juvenile offenders reoffend. Reoffending means more victims, more lives torn apart by the impacts of crime, and more families with a loved one caught up in the criminal justice system.
Against this backdrop we also have overflowing prisons and 96 per cent of prisons not meeting their employment targets. It is clear that change is needed.
The Government is making positive steps, but recent announcements in the King’s Speech suggest an agenda being pulled in opposite directions.
On one side, there was a commitment to a rehabilitative approach to criminal justice with a presumption against custody for sentences of less than 12 months and an extension of Home Detention Curfews. These measures acknowledge that the best way to help offenders away from a life of crime – and save the taxpayer the costs of their incarceration – is to keep them close to their loved ones, in the community and with a job.
But on the other hand, the Government has also introduced measures to sever these rehabilitative ties and focus on prison as a punitive measure. These include plans for prisoners to serve their sentences abroad and remove the possibility of parole for those serving sentences for certain types of violent crimes.
Lord Farmer, long-time advisor to Government on penal reform, recently gave a highly personal and thoughtful speech at the Centre for Social Justice to a packed audience which confronted this dichotomy head on. This “In My View” paper contains that speech, in which he argues against both the arms race of ever-severe sentencing and the cosy liberal “it’s not your fault, it’s your circumstances” mantra.
Rather, for Lord Farmer, our politicians need to focus on how to keep people out of prison, particularly men. Relationships are the golden thread that need to be woven throughout our criminal justice system.
It is meaningful, healthy and trusted relationships that give offenders the courage to change, equip them with the tools to know how, and most importantly, give a reason to have hope for the future.In the often polarised debate about prison reform, where red-blooded rhetoric and liberal condescension collide, Lord Farmer’s speech provides a calm and experienced voice of reason.
