Our prisons are overcrowded, dangerous and out of control. The prison population is rising faster than we can build new cells. Prisoners spend far too much time in their cells, developing mental health problems instead of skills. On Tuesday, the Ministry of Justice announced that it has the answer.
Perhaps surprisingly they didn’t announce more new prisons, or a recruitment drive or to a new scheme to release non-violent prisoners earlier on home detention curfew or ‘tag’. In fact, the new policy is to send prisoners overseas. No, I didn’t have ‘bringing back Transportation’ on my Conference bingo card either. The press release states that the government will look to partner with other European countries in order to rent their prison space.
The decision to start sending prisoners overseas is an admission of failure
It’s hard to understand how we’ve reached this point. The MoJ is right that the ‘average prison sentence has increased by 57 per cent since 2010’ and this is driving our prison population up. But the prison population peaked in 2011 at 88,000 and is actually slightly lower now. So how, when the Tories have been in power since 2010, have they mismanaged the prison system to such an extent that we are no longer able to house all our prisoners in the UK?
The Prison Service budget was cut by 20 per cent during the austerity years. In 2010 there were almost 34,000 ‘operational’ or front-line prison staff. According to the latest figures there are now just 27,811. Those prison officers we do have are much less experienced – 36.3 per cent have less than three years experience. As recently as 2017, over 60 per cent of prison officers had more than ten years experience. Now fewer than 30 per cent do.
In this context it’s unsurprising that prisons are unable to rehabilitate, offer education or even maintain basic order. And now, even after building new prisons and converting 2,400 single cells to double occupancy, we’ve run out of room. All of this makes the decision to start sending prisoners overseas an admission of failure.
Further, even on its own terms, this is bad policy. Foreign national prisoners are already able to apply to serve their sentences in their home countries, so this policy would primarily affect British inmates. 57 per cent of prisoners have literacy levels below those expected of an 11-year-old. Few of them are likely to be fluent in European languages.
Prison is a hard enough experience in your own country. Trying to navigate bureaucracy when you don’t speak or read the language is almost impossible. During my time at HMP Wandsworth I met a lot of foreign nationals who struggled to even choose food or work the phone system.
Even if these British overseas prisons operate in English, we will still be sending prisoners to strange countries, making it impossible for them to maintain family ties or complete in-person accredited courses necessary for their rehabilitation. Prisoners who receive visits from a family member are 39 per cent less likely to reoffend. How many families will be able to afford a journey to another country in order to visit? This policy will do nothing to improve our woeful reoffending rates.
The government mentions similar experiments undertaken by Belgium and Norway, such as Norgerhaven, where conditions are much better than the typical British prison. This will present political challenges as well. How will the public respond to British prisoners serving their sentences in countries like Holland where beer is available from the canteen?
Of course, it’s party conference season, modern Transportation would require new legislation, and the general election is looming next year. Perhaps there’s no serious intent to implement this policy. Perhaps the Justice Secretary, Alex Chalk, believes that sending prisoners overseas is a vote winner.
Unfortunately it’s hard to imagine who will find it appealing. European prisons will not be more punishing than the UK’s. The loss of family ties and access to rehabilitative courses will increase reoffending.
A wealthy, developed nation like the UK ought to be able to operate a functioning prison system which has enough experienced staff and capacity to protect the public, operate safely and ensure that prisoners are less likely to reoffend on release. Instead we have a desperate attempt to outsource and offshore a problem rather than putting the time, effort and money in to solving it.
Comments