Anne Owers’ damning review of the prison capacity crisis should serve as a watershed moment for criminal justice policy in this country (Prison system was days from collapse three times under Sunak, review finds, 5 August). As someone who spent time in prison in 2017, and having now worked for a prison charity for four years, I have witnessed first-hand the “permacrisis” she describes.
The review contains many revelations as to the state of the system. The worst in my eyes is the testimony of prison staff who said that, rather than “developing relationships with prisoners to help them progress … they were in the office, checking and re-checking release dates”. This perfectly sums up the problem: when capacity pressures force us to treat people as mere numbers to be shuffled around the system, we abandon any pretence of rehabilitation.
But the review shows there is hope. The 90% reduction in youth custody over two decades proves that community-based prevention works. The youth justice system’s multi-agency approach, involving health, education, social services and families, has achieved what our adult system cannot: actually reducing offending.
Prison reform campaigners are often accused of being “soft on crime”. But there is nothing soft about wanting a system that actually works – one that makes communities safer rather than simply warehousing problems. The current system fails victims, fails offenders, and fails taxpayers. Dame Anne has given us a roadmap out of this crisis. The question is whether our political leaders have the courage to follow it.
James Stoddart
Coordinator, The Oswin Project
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