What evidence is there to suggest that there is a crisis in the British Prison System?

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Joy Sharrock-Melrose                Tutor: Sue Uttley-Evans

What evidence is there to suggest that there is a crisis in the British Prison System?

This essay is going to give evidence that suggests there is a crisis in our British Prison System.  To do this it will define what the crisis is then examine aspects, which contribute to the crisis.  Many would agree that the crisis in the British system is that of overcrowding.  The rising population in prisons shows that the prison system does not work.  This essay is going to give examples of how the increase in population and overcrowding are a problem.  It will then discuss other factors such as the high percentage of prisoners that re-offend, riots and the cost of sending someone to prison to the taxpayer.  These factors provide the evidence needed to show the extent of the crisis within the British Prison System.

“In the period between the end of the 2nd world war and the century’s end the prison population in England and Wales quadrupled from around 15,000 in 1946 to 60,000 in 1999” McLaughlin & Muncie (2002 pg212.)  There are several explanations for the mass rise in the prison population over this period of time.  The abrupt changes in sentencing, developments in detecting and solving crime, increases in population and increases in recording crimes are all important factors.  However, one major issue relating to this huge increase argued by McLaughlin & Muncie (2002) would be that of the failure of the British Prison System.  McLaughlin & Muncie (2002) would agree that the criminal justice system would rather take the offender out of the community (referring to the old saying out of sight out of mind) and lock criminals up to rehabilitate them.  Bottoms, A & Preston, R (1980) argue that the penal system is suffering from a material (resources) crisis caused by an ever-expanding prison population; and ideological (legitimacy) crisis caused by the failure of the ‘rehabilitive ideal.’  Cavadino, M & Dignan, J (1992) agree that the key factor in the British prison crisis is also the crisis of legitimacy (Cavadino M. & Dignan J. 1992.)  The Penal system needs to legitimate itself.  The penal crisis will not be solved without an attempt to make the public, staff and prisoners seem more just.  Cavadino & Dignan are saying that to make the prison system work the public and staff need to view the system as just and the prisoners need to take the opportunity to rehabilitate themselves.

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Over crowding is a major crisis in the British prison system.  The worst is HMP Preston with 661 prisoners but space for only 356 ( 28/8/2002.)  In some instances, prisons are holding almost double the number of recommended inmates, which strongly suggests that it contributes to the view that there is a crisis in our British Prison system.  On the 12th July 2002 overcrowding within prisons forced the Prison Service to house some inmates in police cells.  The moving of inmates will mean that offenders will have no access to education or rehabilitation sessions and little chance to mix with other people.  There are 1,000 ...

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