Discuss and Evaluate the Claim that the Prison System is In Crisis - Essay Example

?Discuss and evaluate the claim that the prison system is ‘in crisis’ Introduction This paper shall discuss and evaluate the claim that the prison system is in a crisis. This paper will focus on the UK prison crisis, reviewing the current issues in the UK prisons and manifestations which evidence such crisis. Body A 2007 report by the BBC indicates that the UK jails are going through a serious crisis in terms of limited space leading to overcrowding. Due to the overcrowding problem, these jails seem to have become riskier places to manage (BBC, 2007). In 2009, the number of inmates soared to 93,000 which represented a significant increase from previous years (Oakland, 2011). Moreover, male prisoners with mental issues are not given adequate health services, and they should probably receive the services they need in secure hospitals. Still, the prison system itself cannot accommodate such mental health needs (BBC, 2007). In effect, these prisoners have not been able to receive the appropriate mental help they should be receiving in order to complete the process of rehabilitation. In a report by Anne Owers (in BBC, 2007), she likens the prison crisis to a “funnel where liquid is being poured into the top with no tap to release it at the bottom”. The very point of prisons systems is not just incarceration, it is also about rehabilitation and sending criminals to overcrowded prisons without definite plans for rehabilitation would significantly crown and congest already congested prisons (Mansfield, Mostyn, and James, 2006). It is also important to note that building new prisons would not serve to provide a long-term solution to the prison crisis as these prisons would soon be filled with more inmates. The UK prison crisis has also been exacerbated by the fact that these prisons also hold a huge number of foreign nation prisoners who are awaiting their deportation (BBC News, 2007). Some convicted criminals sentenced to community service have also been imprisoned and their numbers have added to the swelling number of inmates. The prison crisis being experienced in the UK is also associated with deaths in prison where reports have been revealed of deaths among inmates. Professor Phil Scraton of the Action Prison reform group mentions that treating inmates who were suffering from mental illnesses was not sufficient to resolve the crisis (Belfast Telegraph, 2011). Reports of dying inmates also indicate that there are gaps in the prison system and in the care administered to these prisoners. Lyn Edwards reports that her son died because the prison system did not fulfil its duty to provide care for her son; another prisoner awaiting trial for attempted murder also died because of the prison crisis (Belfast Telegraph, 2011). Edwards emphasized that too many prisoners are just sent to jail and forgotten and the current system does not have the capacity to provide an effective system of rehabilitation for these inmates. The UK prison system is also described by Lord Chief Justice, Lord Philips as a system in crisis with prisons highly overcrowded and with prisoners going to court without the assurance of going back to the same cell or the same prison (Conservatives for Change, 2007). The prison cells which are built to accommodate one inmate are often occupied by two. In some cases, prisoners are often driven from prison to prison to find spaces to fit them in. In the end, up to 200 to 300 of these prisoners are forced to spend the night in police or court cells (Maltravers, in Allison, 2006). Chief Inspector Owers explains that this crisis was predictable, however, legislators ignored the predictions and they ignored the impact of the laws they were passing; moreover, there were no clear strategies within this prison system (Conservatives for Change, 2007). As of 2005, reports indicate that prison population already stood at 82,000, numbers which already represented an excess in the total capacity of prison estates (Conservatives for Change, 2007). The excess number of inmates was often housed in police and office courts and they were often subjected to improper and inadequate sanitation and catering resources; moreover, they did not have access to drug rehabilitation facilities as well as training facilities or prisoner education programs (Conservatives for Change, 2007). The issue of overcrowding prisons have been tentatively resolved through the early release of some prisoners even without undergoing appropriate rehabilitation treatment. Since June of 2007, about 18,000 inmates were released and 300 crimes were seen after their release; one murder was committed among these released offenders (Conservatives for Change, 2007). The prison crisis also translated to 90 prisoners committing suicide, one of them a 15 year old adolescent. In 2007, about 30,000 prisoners were expected for early release (Conservatives for Change, 2007). Close to half of all prison cells were qualified as overcrowded, 19 were already considered full with about 65% of inmates found guilty of committing serious crimes within two years of release (Sentencing Guidelines Council, 2007). About one-third of inmates under probation have been known to violate their probation terms within six months of their probationary release (Carter, 2007). About one-third of recidivists have been known to have several convictions or warnings prior to their current convictions (Crime in England and Wales, 2007). The important concern which has to be drawn from these alarming crime rates is the fact that their social and economic impact is highly significant. Moreover, the conclusion which can be drawn from these figures is the fact that there is a significant crisis in the prison systems and the government cannot seem to break the reoffending patterns of behaviour of criminals (Hough and Allen, 2008). A definite review and reassessment of current government remedies must therefore be carried out. There are different reasons for the presence of the prison crisis. One of the reasons is founded on the fact that higher rates of serious and violent crimes committed means that judges have to send more criminals to jail and for longer periods (Conservatives for Change, 2007). Another reason for the prison crisis can be blamed on the fact that government officials ignored the warnings of a possible prison crisis; as such, they did not have the appropriate contingency measures to handle the possibility of the prison crisis (Conservatives for Change, 2007). Finally, another possible reason is founded on argument that inadequate policies and failures in bureaucratic experiments have endangered prison governors as well as prison authorities, thereby compromising the overall aim of end-to-end offender management (Conservatives for Change, 2007). In further assessing the increasing prison population which is the very cause of the prison crisis, there seems to be a significant relationship between the prison terms or sentences and the number of inmates sentenced to prison (Conservatives for Change, 2007). In effect, by attempting to evaluate the increasing prison population, it is easy enough to establish inadequate inferences from the sentencing statistics (Conservatives for Change, 2007). For example, many people sentenced to serve prison sentences are often sentenced to receive terms six months or less (Ministry of Justice, 2007). However, these criminals do not seem to have a significant impact on the prison population. An average prisoner having a short sentence may serve about six weeks in jail, and only a fraction would actually serve a prison system at any time (Ministry of Justice, 2007). In effect, where eight percent of inmates are actually serving terms six months or less, 87% of them are actually serving terms over 12 months (Ministry of Justice, 2007). Substituting the community reforms for inmates serving sentences of six months or less would cause a watering down of close to 6000 sentences; this would also mean reducing prison population by about 7000 (Conservatives for Change, 2007). An unjustified belief is that prisons are rich with individuals carrying out sentences of non-payment of fines. The truth is that a very few are serving their sentences due to non-payment of fines (National Audit office, Bourn, and Botten, 2006). The current crisis is also not caused by the significant number of first time offenders because only about 12% of inmates are first time offenders. In fact, about half of inmates have five or more convictions and one third of these have ten or more (Conservatives for Change, 2007). In effect, the claim that prison must be reserved for serious offenders does not consider the fact that prisons are already set aside for these offenders. Judges do not actually imprison first time offenders without making a thorough of their case. The first time offenders who are jailed are those who commit serious offences where no legal excuse for their behaviour can be made (Carter, 2007). As such, trying to resolve the prison crisis by blaming the number of non-serious offenders being jailed represents an inadequate assessment of the issue. It is also important to note that prison seems to be currently assessed, not as a means of meting out punishment, but it is being utilized as a means of protecting the public (Prison Reform Trust, 2007). However, prisoners having been meted out indeterminate prison terms would likely have definite sentences which are equivalent to the same prison times. Inmates with indeterminate sentences who may have contributed to the prison crisis are those who have been held in prison beyond their minimum stay (Prison Reform Trust, 2007). Reports have established that there are about 400 of these inmates with indeterminate sentences whose tariffs or minimum sentences have expired. It is safe to say therefore that inmates which have indeterminate sentences are contributing to prison overcrowding. In order to ensure that the indeterminate prison system would work to great advantage, the prison services must try to manage these inmates before their minimum tariff ends. Doing so would ensure that those who do not pose a threat to the community can be assessed and released (Conservatives for Change, 2007). However, overcrowding prisons also implies that most of these inmates with indeterminate sentences would not be able to get into the assessment courses and rehabilitation programs which can reduce their negative impact on society (Conservatives for Change, 2007). Since these inmates cannot prove that they do not pose a danger to society, they often stay in prison and add to the prison crisis of overcrowding. The issue in inmates with indeterminate sentences is based on the existing overcrowding issue (Hostettler, 2009). Suspended sentences made by magistrates cannot also be blamed for the overcrowding issue because in reviewing the prison trends applied by magistrate courts in a five year period revealed that suspended sentences only account for about two percent of the prison population (Sentencing Guidelines Council, 2007). The prison crisis must therefore be evaluated based on the increased number of long-term inmates, not on the presence of short-term inmates or those with suspended sentences. The criminal presence in the UK seems to be the main culprit of this prison system. Criminal acts and rates have exhibited a steady and overwhelming increase in the past few years (Conservatives for Change, 2007). Although some reports, including that of the British Criminal Survey reveals that the overall crime rates have fallen in the UK, the report did not consider some kinds of offences like murder which often have longer sentences. Moreover, final convictions for crimes do not reveal the actual number of individuals sent to jail. The number of recorded crimes would serve to reveal the more accurate means of evaluating the demands for prison facilities (Conservatives for Change, 2007). These recorded crimes would likely catch the attention of authorities and result in prison convictions. The more crimes recorded, the more prisoners are often sent to jail regardless of what is happening in society. From the end of the 1990s, recorded crimes increased by about 300,000 offences with violent crimes doubling in number (Sentencing Guidelines Council, 2007). Serious violent crimes saw a 66% increase from 1997 to 2006 and in the same period, robbery saw a 47% increase rate. Based on these increased rates, the prison population was more or less bound to increase. The fact that the government has not made any major strides to increase the capacity of the prisons and to reduce the incidence of crime has further exacerbated the issue (Conservatives for Change, 2007). Conclusion Based on the above discussion, the prison crisis in the UK is mostly based on prison overcrowding and an inadequate rehabilitation program. On deeper evaluation, this prison overcrowding has been mostly caused by the increased rates of individuals committing crimes, especially the serious crimes requiring long prison sentences. The fact that the government does not have an effective rehabilitation and prison management system in place is not helping to resolve the issue in any way. In effect, as the number of individuals sent to jail is not reduced, inmates will continue to crowd the prisons and overwhelm the prison resources and authorities. 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How the Indefinite Sentence for Public Protection is Unjust and Unsustainable, London: Prison Reform Trust, viewed 04 January 2011 from http://www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/uploads/documents/Indefinitely_maybe.pdf Sentencing Guidelines Council 2007, Magistrate’s Sentencing Guidelines, viewed 04 January 2012 from http://www.northants.police.uk/files/linked/WCU/Magistrate%20Sentencing%20Guidelines.pdf Read More