The failure to take a cross-governmental approach to being tough on the causes of crime has widened health and social inequalities. Facts and figures released by the Prison Reform Trust reveal that billions of public money is being wasted on a prison system which cannot reasonably cope with the burden of public health demands.
The Bromley Briefing Prison Factfile warns that a continued absence of leadership from the government on penal policy and its failure to join up health, social and justice policy may mean that long-awaited reform to the prison system will be driven by existing disability, equality and corporate manslaughter legislation and by tough spending constraints.
Based on official figures drawn from a wide range of sources, including new parliamentary questions, the Factfile shows the extent and impact of the rise in the prison population in recent years despite the fall in overall crime.
The Prison Reform Trust is calling today for a moratorium on prison building and a complete review of the scope of public health investment to cut crime and create healthier, safer communities.
Parliament’s Justice select committee is expected to publish a report on its long running inquiry on prison and justice spending soon.
PRISON POPULATION
· On 12 June 2009, the prison population in England and Wales was 83,001. A 38% increase since the government came into power in 1997.
· At the end of April 2009, 82 out of the 140 prisons in England and Wales were officially overcrowded.
· According to the government, the overall cost of the criminal justice system has risen from 2% of GDP to 2.5% over the last ten years. That is a higher per capita level than the US or any EU country.
SENTENCING POLICY
· Approximately 70% of the increase in demand for prison places between 1995 and 2005 is estimated to have arisen owing to harsher sentencing
· 24,853 people entered prison in 2007 to serve sentences up to and including three months. This is up 12% from 1997. For women, it is an increase of 68%.
RECONVICTION RATES
· Reconviction rates for sentences of 12 months or less were almost twice those of offenders sentenced to carry out unpaid work – 70% compared to 38%.
· 75% of under 18 year olds re-offend within a year of release from custody.
IPP & LIFE SENTENCES
· On 24 April 2009, 1,711 (33%) of those sentenced to imprisonment for public protection were being held beyond their tariff expiry date. On 12 February 2009, 568 people were past their tariff by 12 months or more.
The number sentenced to life imprisonment a year has increased from 338 in 1996 to 492 in 2007.
MENTAL HEALTH & LEARNING DISABILITY
· Black and minority ethnic groups are 40% more likely than white people to access mental health services via a criminal justice system gateway.
· A significant number of prisoners suffer from a psychotic disorder. 7% of male and 14% of female sentenced prisoners have a psychotic disorder; 14 and 23 times the level in the general population.
· 20 – 30% of offenders have learning disabilities or difficulties that interfere with their ability to cope with the criminal justice system. 7% of prisoners have an IQ of less than 70.
DRUGS & DRINK
On arrival in local prisons, 70-80% of prisoners test positive for Class A drugs.
Offenders who receive residential drug treatment are 45% less likely to reoffend on return to the community than comparable offenders receiving prison sentences.
In almost half of violent crimes (48%) the victim believed the offender or offenders to be under the influence of alcohol.
DISABILITY & DEMENTIA
A survey by the Ministry of Justice found that over a quarter of newly sentenced prisoners reported a long-standing physical disorder or disability.
More than half of all elderly prisoners suffer from a mental disorder.
85% of elderly prisoners have one or more major illnesses reported in their medical records and 83% reported at least one chronic illness or disability when interviewed.
In 2002 The government’s Social Exclusion Unit ‘Reducing re-offending by ex-prisoners’ report identified nine key factors that influence reoffending: education, employment, drug and alcohol misuse, mental and physical health, attitudes and self-control, institutionalisation and life skills, housing, financial support and debt and family networks.
Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust, said:
“Everyone knows that drink and drugs drive crime, and that it is cruel and inhumane to imprison people who are mentally ill or suffer from profound learning disabilities, so why are ministers still hell bent on pouring public money into prison building when they should be investing in treatment for addicts and effective health and social care instead? Government must get a grip and deliver on its promise to reduce social exclusion. Ever growing numbers of sick people recycled around a bleak prison system is not the way to do it. It’s time to stop mindless prison building and cut crime by sensibly improving public health.”
You can download a copy of the Bromley Briefing Prison Factfile here |