Do Prisons Rehabilitate?

Do Prisons Rehabilitate?

In this essay, I shall be focusing on the whether or Prisons rehabilitate offenders. I will

do this by focusing mainly on the Prison Service in England & Wales, the reason for

this, being that the data and statistics for England & Wales are easier to obtain than

that of other countries. The main information I will be referring to will be the rates of

conviction, types of imprisonment, types of non-custodial sentences. Also I will

explore some of the current methods of offender rehabilitation.

Her Majesty's Prison Service is composed of two main types of prisons, they are open

and closed prisons. Following the Mountbatten Report (1965) Prisoners were placed

into security categories, ranging from category A (high risk prisoner - escape would

pose a serious risk to the public or state) to category D (low risk prisoner - can be

trusted in open prison conditions).

Prisons have four major purposes, they are; retribution, incapacitation, deterrence and

rehabilitation. Retribution means punishment for crimes against society. Prisons serve

to deprive criminals of their freedom is a way of making them pay a debt to society for

their crimes. Incapacitation refers to the removal of criminals from society so that they

can no longer harm innocent people. Deterrence means the prevention of future crime,

it is hoped that bye imprisoning a criminal, it deters them from committing the crime

again and also deters others from committing crime. Rehabilitation refers to activities

designed to change criminals into law abiding citizens, and may include providing

educational courses in prison, teaching job skills and offering counselling with a

psychologist or social worker. Over many years the focus of the prison service has

switched between the four purposes, therefore at different times in history the

importance of rehabilitation has fluctuated.

"Her Majesty's Prison Service serves the public by keeping in custody those

committed by the courts. Our duty is to look after them with humanity and help them

lead law-abiding and useful lives in custody and after release."

http://www.hmprisonservice.gov.uk/lrgtxt.asp

The above statement of purpose is that of Her Majesty's Prison Service. As can be

seen from the statement, there seems to be a focus on incapacitation and rehabilitation.

Over many years, people's attitude towards how to deal with prisoners has changed,

this was reflected by the Gladstone Report in 1895 which said that 'we start from the

principle that prison treatment should have as its primary and concurrent objects,

deterrence and reformation'.

In general, it would be fair to say that the majority of people in England and Wales

would agree with the statement that prisons are not working. The reason for this is

that on average 50% of prisoners within 2 years of release will reoffend. Hence this

shows that prisons do not rehabilitate everyone who passes through them, Norman

Brennan is quoted below saying that it is not the prisons that fail, but it is the inmates

that fail. I think that the only way that the prison service can rehabilitate offenders is if

the offenders themselves are willing to be rehabilitated.

"It is wrong therefore to say that prisons fail; it is their inmates who fail. If on

discharge from prison the ex-prisoner re-offend, it confirms that a custodial sentence

was right in the first place..."

Norman Brennan, Director of the Victims of Crime Trust, and a 23-year serving policeman

Often now, it is believed that a prison sentence is not always the most effective way of

punishing an offender. As stated below, often a custodial sentence causes more harm

than good. The main reason for this is that when a offender is sentenced to prison, they

often loose their job and the chance to see and be seen by their family. In many cases

this is not likely to cause a difference in the offenders criminal behaviour because when

they are released they will have no job and are often rejected by their family, therefore

there is no reason for them not to commit an offence again.

Prison can damage the positive links between a prisoner and their family - breaking

stable relationships with partners and children. Can lead to financial, emotional and

health problems among family members....

http://www.socialexclusionunit.gov.uk/publications/reports/html/Reducing_Re-offending/chapter_five

.htm

Recently the Home Secretary released plans to introduce new types of sentencing,

these would include; Custody plus (An innovative, flexible sentence is to cover the

60,000 short-term inmates serving 12 months or less... to be followed by a period