Prisons

Rehabilitation

Point - Prisons are effective in meeting their aims due to successful rehabilitation programmes.  

Explanation - Prisons can help offenders gain skills that will help them when they are released, including basic literacy provision and  
national qualifications. For many people who commit crime, they may have been isolated from school and missed out on vital education. 

Example/evidence - For example, the Scottish Prison Service work in collaboration with Fife College and New College Lanarkshire to deliver learning programmes for prisoners across all of its prisons.  Education Scotland also provide digital learning classes within prisons. 

Analysis - This evidence is vital in showing that opportunities to gain these qualifications in prison means they are more likely to get a good job when leaving prison and are able to break the cycle of reoffending in the future.  

Rebuttal point - However, it can be argued that high reoffending rates indicate rehabilitation programmes are limited in their success.  

Explanation - Prisons are often referred to as ‘universities of crime’ and prisoners who often reoffend are called ‘revolving door prisoners.’ This means that a lot of time and money is wasted in convicting criminals and housing prisoners the first time let alone the second.  

Example/evidence - For example, the Scottish Government reported that 57% those sentenced to short jail terms of 6 months were reconvicted within a year and 39% were back in prison within a year.  

Analysis - This evidence suggests that if a prisoner is only sentenced to 6 months in prison, they have little opportunity to engage with rehabilitation programmes and there is little time to make long term chances to their behaviour.  

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