Public protection, punishment & rehabilitation

his majesty prison, priorities for custodial setneces, risk factors & public protection

Prison Reform Trust, Bromley Briefing (2023)

• 42% of adult offenders reoffend within 12 months of release

  • 58% if they served a sentence of 12 months or less

• 58% of female offenders reoffend within 12 months of release

  • 73% if they served a sentence of 12 months or less

• 63% of youth offenders reoffend within 12 months of release

  • 70% if they offender served a sentence of 12 months or less

Rt Hon David Gauke MP - Prison reform speech

Depriving someone of their liberty for a period of time is one of the most significant powers available to the State and must be imposed with respect for the rule of law and with purpose.

Prison is the sharp end of our justice system. By imposing this serious sanction, we must be clear about what prison is for.

I believe its purpose is threefold:

First, protection of the public – prison protects the public from the most dangerous and violent individuals.

Second, punishment – prison deprives offenders of their liberty and certain freedoms enjoyed by the rest of society and acts as a deterrent. It is not the only sanction available, but it is an important one.

And third, rehabilitation – prison provides offenders with the opportunity to reflect on, and take responsibility for, their crimes and prepare them for a law-abiding life when they are released.

It is only by prioritising rehabilitation that we can reduce reoffending and, in turn, the numbers of future victims of crime

International Centre of Prison Studies (2018)

• US over 700 per 100,000

• Russia 

• England/wales rather in the middle 

• Nigeria & India lower level 

• Across the EU we prison a higher proportion 

Prison population (MoJ 2021)

• Prison population of England & Wales x4 in size between 1900 -2018

  • ½ of this increase taking place since 1990

• Projections forecast that the prison population will be between 93,100 & 106,300 by March 2027.

  • a rise due to expected longer determinate sentences & increasing police numbers leading to higher charge rates.

• take into account a fall in the number of prisoners aged over 50 & the continuing decline in the number of prisoners serving indeterminate sentences (imprisonment for the public protection (IPP)

Prisons in England & Wales

• 124 prisons

  • 11 female (2 ‘open’), 16 private (SERCO, G4S, Sodexo; revert to public control after 25 yrs)

  • 8 category A, 43 cat B, 43 cat C, 10 cat D, 13 HMYOI

  • 24 built since 1995 (around 40 built before 1901)

• Record high of 88,521 (98.8% capacity) (2024)

  • 94.7% men

  • Decrease of 5,500 due to COVID

• total current pop = 87,323 - 97.8% capacit

Cost of prisons (Statista, 2023)

• £7.41 Billion (2025)

• £56,987 per year per prisoner (2023)

• £35,182 

• cost of community sentence £2,500-8,00 year

• cost of probation £1,600

prison population sentencing

• 3,833 serving sentences < 12 months (4.4%) 91% of whom are male

  • 56% serving 4+ years, 23% serving 1-3 years,

  • 13,186 serving life/indeterminate sentences (19.6%), 97% male

  • But additional 16,196 on remand (awaiting trial or sentencing) (MoJ, Sept 2023)

• Those sentenced in 2018 (59,000): (Prison Reform Trust, 2019)

  • 69% committed a non-violent crime

  • 46% were sentenced to 6 months or less in prison

  • 63% sentenced to less than 12 months

Priorities for the CJS 

1. Protect the public

2. To punish

3. To rehabilitate

protect the public priority for CJS

• prisons should be physically secure places in order to prevent the escape of offenders who pose an unacceptable risk to the public

To punish priority for CJS

• prisons should not be comfortable places

• public should be confident that offenders are not treated favourably

To rehabilitate priority for CJS

• prisons should offer solutions to the causes of offenders’ illegal behaviour, in order to prevent or at least reduce reoffending upon release

Prison population: offence type

Prison population’s age (MoJ 2023)

• The prison population is ageing:

• In 2002, 15% were under the age of 21 compared to 5% in 2021

• Number over the age of 50 increased from 7% in 2002 to 18% in 2023.

Offence type by gender

• 

• in every catergoy men outway women

• fruadry is most unbalanced 

prison population gender

• Corston review (2006) of vulnerable women in CJS following the deaths of 6 women at Styal prison, stated:

  • “Community solutions for non-violent women offenders should be the norm.”

• The report concluded that:

  • “There must be a strong consistent message right from the top of government, with full reasons given, in support of its stated policy that prison is not the right place for women offenders who pose no risk to the public.”

• indended to be taken out of pp 

Marget Thatcher’s removing the residentual care home

• made it “care in the community”

• resulted in higher rates of homelessness and crime

Lifestyle stability of prisoners in england & wales (HoCL, 2013)

• 64% in receipt of benefits within 12 months of start of sentence

• Around 70% suffer from two or more mental disorders, compared with general population figures of 5% (men) and 2% (women)

• 5% were sleeping rough  and 31% had no permanent residence immediately prior to imprisonment

• 50% of women in prison report having suffered domestic violence, 33% of women had experienced sexual abuse

Childhood experiences of prisoners’ in England & Wales  (HoCL, 2013)

• 24% of prisoners (31% for women) had lived in foster care, an institution or had been taken into care in childhood

• 29% experienced emotional, physical or sexual abuse as a child, with women (53%) more likely than men (27%)

• 41% had observed violence in the home in childhood

• 37% family member convicted on criminal offence (non-motoring)

Educational history of prisoners’ in England & Wales  (HoCL, 2013)

• 59% report regularly playing truant from school

• 47% have no academic qualifications (vs 15% of general pop.)

• 67% have numeracy skills at or below the level expected of an 11 year-old

• 50% have reading ability and 82% have writing ability at or below that expected of an 11 year-old

• 3% have university degrees

Organised crime within (March, 2018)

The fact is, there are around 6,500 prisoners who have links to organised crime.

At the moment, these offenders are spread across the estate and are helping to perpetuate the cycle of crime by drawing fellow prisoners into the clutches of the gangs.

So, I want to rethink how we categorise prisoners – that means looking again at who goes to higher security-level prisons.

Rather than just considering their length of sentence and risk of escape in determining which prison an offender goes to – or moves to – I want to look, as well, at their behaviour in prison and their risk of directing crime and violence whilst in prison.

type of offenders (Corbett, 1995)

• Conformers

  • always comply w/relevant law

• Deterred

  • need reminding offending is unacceptable

• Manipulators

  • only comply if increased chance of detection or severe punishment

• Defiers

  • behaviours don’t appear affected by anything

Prisons Reform Speech (2018)

“Depriving someone of their liberty for a period of time is one of the most significant powers available to the State and must be imposed with respect for the rule of law and with purpose.

Prison is the sharp end of our justice system. By imposing this serious sanction, we must be clear about what prison is for.”

Rt Hon David Gauke MP

Types of offender (Corbett, 1995)

• conformes = always comply

• Deterred = need to remind the offending is unacceptable

• manipulators = only comply is an increased chance of detection or more severe punishment if caught offending gains

  • would see the camera but accelerate beyond

  • slow down for the camera, but then speed up 

• defiers = behaviours don’t appear to be affected by anything, less than 5%

what is justice

• Perceptions of fairness, legitimacy, what is considered to be ‘right’ depend on a range of factors

• Treatment of offenders must be perceived as ‘just’

Retribution

• Harm done by offenders requires society to rectify the imbalance by punishing them appropriately

  • Related to concerns about status and power

  • An offender gains an unfair advantage over those who adhere to the law

• an eye for an eye

• proportionality based on moral offense

  • Magnitude of harm

  • Perpetrator’s intentions

  • Mitigating or aggravating circumstances

Deterrence

• adverse consequences (Ipunishment) will make (re)offending less likely 

• specific or general deterrence effects (Stafford & Warr, 1993)

• Circumstance of crime

• Capital crimes

Deterrence vs incentivisation

• Range of sentence length

• Minimum sentence imposed

  • E.g., compare:

    • 10 to 12-year sentence w/15% time off for good behaviour

    • Range 8.5 – 10.2 years

  • 14 to 20-year sentence w/40% time off for good behaviour

    • Range 8.4 – 12.0 years

Rehabilitation

• constructive efforts to provide education, training or other services to enable offenders to become reintegrated in society & reduce reoffending

• Short prison sentences less effective than community sentences in reducing offending, yet use of community sentences has halved in ten years 2009-2019 (Prison Reform Trust, 2019)

what support is offered on release for prisoners

• £75 ‘discharge grant’

  • (increased from £46 in 2020 after 25 years with no change)

• No access to any other form of social support for six weeks

Restoration

• Offenders make reparations to victims for the harms they have caused

  • often through a carefully managed negotiation & reconciliation process

• Dialogue between offender & victim related to concerns about shared values

• ‘Making amends’ → “The repair of justice through reaffirming a shared value-consensus in a bilateral process” (Wenzel et al, 2008)

• Treats transgressions/offences as examples of conflict

  • Such conflicts should be returned to their owners for resolution

    • Impact statements

Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP)

• Created by the Criminal Justice Act (2003)

• Started to be used in 2005 → Abolished in 2012

• Convicted offenders sentenced to minimum term

• Having served minimum term, referred to Parole Board

• “The Parole Board will release an offender only if it is satisfied that it is no longer necessary for the protection of the public for the offender to be confined” (MoJ)

• Being used too extensively (7% of convicted offenders)

• 2,000 prisoners still serving IPPs