Fragile Progress
Has the £2billion spent on new prison accommodation had the desired effect.
It is a little known fact that the UK now spends proportionately more on law and order than any other country in the industrialised world, including the United States and our European neighbours such as France, Germany and Spain. Today we spend 2.5 per cent of our national income on law and order, whereas most industrialised countries spend around 1.5 per cent. In fact since Labour came to power in 1997, our proportionate spend on law and order has risen from 2 per cent to 2.5 per cent. It may not seem like a big increase but it is the equivalent of just over £2 billion.This startling fact reveals just how much extra money is now allocated to the criminal justice agencies. In 2007/8 nearly £23 billion will be spent on this area of government. The so-called correctional services, i.e. the Prison and Probation Services, do not receive the largest share – they account for 19 per cent of total spending whereas the police receive nearly two-thirds.
However, prisons and probation have had the largest real terms increase. A recent analysis conducted by the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit highlighted that the budget for both has grown annually at 8 per cent since 2001, a faster real terms increase in spending than that on the NHS over the same period.
But what has the money been spent on? What difference has it made? And has it been well spent? A report by myself and colleagues at the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, published in January, attempted to answer these questions in relation to spending across the criminal justice system. It is noticeable how little work has been done following the money. There is a lack of independent work scrutinising government spending on prisons and probation as well as criminal justice in general.
Spending on prisons has increased significantly - rising from £1.8 billion in 1998-1999 to £2.4 billion in 2004-2005. Since then it has been cut back to around £2.1 billion. The largest proportion of expenditure goes on staffing costs, including salaries, pensions and other employee costs, accounting for around three quarters of overall spending. However, Home Office spending on prisons has also had to provide for around 20,000 extra places since 1997. Each new build is not cheap, costing around £100,000. Over the last decade at least £2 billion has been spent on new accommodation.
Outside of Home Office budgets there have also been increases in spending on prison health, commissioned by Primary Care Trusts, with funding from the Department of Health and prison education and skills training, commissioned by Learning and Skills Councils, with funding from the Department for Education and Skills. There is no doubt that spending in both areas has resulted in some palpable changes. There are now mental health in-reach teams working in prisons and there are far more basic skills courses. Other areas of prison life, in particular, safer custody programmes, have also benefited from extra investment.
The extra money has made a difference. The continuing fall over the past year in the number of self-inflicted deaths - despite the relentless rise in prison numbers - is particularly notable. Another clear change in prison life is that detoxification programmes are more widely available, which means far fewer prisoners are left to go cold turkey after arriving in custody. There is also improved support for those who have serious mental health problems and according to the adult learning inspectorate, prison education, overall, is of a better quality today than it was a decade ago.
But despite these changes the government is struggling to meet its key priority for prisoners leaving custody – a reduction in reconviction rates. The latest government figures show that two-year reconviction rates post custody increased from 58 per cent in 1997 to 66 per cent in 2003. This raises serious questions about what all the extra investment has achieved. More people may be leaving prison with basic skills certificates, or having completed offender behaviour courses, but two thirds will still be reconvicted. And the numbers who re-offend but are not convicted are likely to be far higher.
The reconviction rates for offenders on community sentences have also remained stubbornly high at well over fifty per cent. If anything, the rise in reconviction rates reveals the limitations of relying on criminal justice responses to solve complex social problems. As the government’s Social Exclusion Unit found when it looked at reducing reconviction rates for ex-prisoners, the reasons behind their further offending are linked to multiple problems that require consistent and carefully coordinated interventions over a prolonged period of time, both in custody and the community. The criminal justice agencies are not best placed to deliver this.
Improvements to the quality of prison life have undoubtedly benefited prisoners. But the progress towards safer and more humane prison regimes is fragile. Resources are becoming more thinly spread as the Prison Service faces substantial reductions in its budget over the next three years. The advances that have been made could easily and quickly be lost.
There is no disputing the fact that there has been significant extra investment. Major changes are evident. But claims of success have tended to be overstated by ministers eager to demonstrate that their policies are making a difference. Far too many people still leave prison without a job, with no stable accommodation, their substance misuse problems unchanged and with a range of mental health disorders that have not been treated.
Questions remain about whether the government is placing too much emphasis on finding criminal justice solutions to complex social and economic problems. And what this reliance, on custodial solutions, can realistically achieve in reducing crime and increasing public safety.
Beyond Reasonable Doubt
Governor Adjudications
In the Know
Help or Hindrance?
Telephone Evidence - Tactics and Strategy
Month by Month
I have a dream
Educating Rita
Being prepared for the scrap heap?
Current page: Fragile Progress
Unfit for Human Habitation
Video Games... are good for you!
insidetime
|
|
Issue : July 2010
Back Issues
Browse and Search Tools
View headlines by category
Search headlines | All headlines
Search mailbag | All mailbag
Search poems | All poems
July 2010 Headlines
‘Prisons are awash with drugs’
‘An open letter to Kenneth Clarke MP, Secretary of State for Justice’
Quality not quantity
Housing...
Month by Month
A matter of life and death
Prison is whatever you want it to be …
The learning experience
Ben's Blog
Trials, timing and influence
Anonymity Until Trial
Reducing isolation … increasing socialisation
Deliberately inflicted powerlessness
“They know who you are, where you are, what you are doing and who you are doing it with!”
Flawed sentences
Does prison fail inmates with mental illness?
Civil Recovery Orders
About Us
About insidetime
Directors
Editorial Team
InsidePoetry Book
The
insidepoetry book
is a collection of 213 poems by 202 prisoners of all backgrounds.
Availabe to buy from this site!
Subscribe
You can subscribe to insidetime Newspaper and get the paper each month delivered to your door!
Advertise
Advertise your business or solicitors office to a highly defined target audience.
Other Publications
Inside Time has produced a number of books and publications you can purchase online.
Contact Us
All contact info for the Operations office and the Editorial Team.
Site Map
Our site map page contains links to all pages on the insidetime site.
External Links
These links open external websites which you may be interested.
WikiCrimeLine
Banks On Sentence
insideinformation
Prisons
Everything you need to know about visiting people in prison; procedures, opening times, directions etc.
Comprehensive information about each prison regime; lock down times, facilities, healthcare etc.
insideinformation Book
Help and Support
Various pages of information for help and support organisations and networks for those in custody as well as recently released. Also information for friends and family.
Grants and Funding
This grants and funding pdf document aims to meet the need of prisoners and ex-offenders for accurate, up to date information on the supplementary funding available to prisoners.
Rules and Regulations
Information on rules & regulations used throughout the prison service.
Glossary of Terms
The Glossary of Prison Related Terms explains what all the acronyms and terms stand for with prison related matters. Includes links to external sites to further explain things.
Fact Sheets
We have produced many Prison Related Fact Sheets inc. Legal Fact Sheets, Parole Fact Sheets and Other related information.
Find a Solicitor
You can search our solicitor database for listings of solicitors in your area that provide the services you require.
Address Finder
You can search our address database in many ways to retrieve contact information for all those elusive addresses you need in a hurry.
Prison Law pdf
This document provides details of leading training providers who offer sound professional training.
Other Publications
Inside Information has produced a number of books and publications you can purchase online.
Site Map
Our site map page contains links to all pages on the insideinformation site.
Contact Us
Use the Contact Us Feedback form to send us suggestions, plus our address and phone numbers.