tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/uk-prisons-11395/articlesUK prisons – The Conversation2023-11-30T17:23:42Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2186272023-11-30T17:23:42Z2023-11-30T17:23:42ZWe don’t know how many victims of modern slavery are in prison – why that’s a problem<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562994/original/file-20231201-17-991i18.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=235%2C325%2C3724%2C2402&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/reading-december-4-exhibition-inside-artists-529760236">photocritical/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Modern slavery affects <a href="https://www.walkfree.org/global-slavery-index/country-studies/united-kingdom/">an estimated 120,000</a> people in the UK. Under <a href="https://www.echr.coe.int/documents/d/echr/guide_art_4_eng">international law</a>, countries must identify and protect survivors, while prosecuting and punishing those who traffic and exploit them.</p>
<p>Courts in England and Wales convicted 282 traffickers in <a href="https://www.state.gov/reports/2023-trafficking-in-persons-report/united-kingdom/">2022</a>. But many victims of modern slavery also end up imprisoned, often for criminal activity they are forced to to commit as part of their exploitation.</p>
<p>And here is the problem: we don’t actually know how many victims of modern slavery have been imprisoned. There are no official statistics.</p>
<p>My colleagues and I have spoken to dozens of prison staff, who say it is highly likely that unidentified survivors of modern slavery are currently being imprisoned across the UK. Our <a href="https://modernslaverypec.org/resources/modern-slavery-uk-prisons">new report explains</a> how difficult it is for prison authorities to identify and report people who they suspect may have experienced modern slavery.</p>
<p>It was only in 2022 that prisons introduced the role of Modern Slavery Single Points of Contact (Spocs), whose job it is to improve the ability of prisons to identify and support survivors. My colleagues and I surveyed 50 out of the 117 Spocs in UK prisons. More than two thirds thought it highly likely that there were unidentified survivors of modern slavery in their prisons. </p>
<p>We also spoke to modern slavery survivors, the charities who support them and other experts. A forensic psychologist we interviewed said they believe the number of modern slavery survivors in prison is “increasing exponentially”.</p>
<h2>How the UK tracks modern slavery</h2>
<p>Survivors of modern slavery in the UK are identified through the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/human-trafficking-victims-referral-and-assessment-forms/guidance-on-the-national-referral-mechanism-for-potential-adult-victims-of-modern-slavery-england-and-wales">national referral mechanism</a>. In 2022, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/modern-slavery-national-referral-mechanism-and-duty-to-notify-statistics-uk-end-of-year-summary-2022">nearly 3,000</a> people were formally recognised as victims through this system.</p>
<p>Once someone is identified, they are legally <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/human-rights-the-uks-international-human-rights-obligations">entitled to support</a> from the government such as safe accommodation, mental health support, access to legal advice and protection from further exploitation. This is true even if they are in prison. </p>
<p>However, only designated “first responder organisations” are able to refer suspected cases of modern slavery to the national referral mechanism. These include the Home Office, police and a number of modern slavery charities – but not prisons. </p>
<p>This means that, if a prison officer (or a Spoc) suspects that someone is a victim of modern slavery, they need to ask a third party to interview the person and make a formal referral. This causes significant delays and hinders access to support. </p>
<p>And a lack of information-sharing between the national referral mechanism and prisons means that prisons often do not know whether how many survivors are among their population.</p>
<p>It can take years for victims to come forward and report themselves. One survivor we interviewed said: “When I was inside no one wanted to listen, for so long no one wanted to listen, for so many years I was too scared to talk.”</p>
<h2>Further exploitation in prison</h2>
<p>Modern slavery survivors may end up in prison following criminal exploitation – convicted of crimes they are forced to commit, such as drug trafficking. Others may commit offences unrelated to their experience of modern slavery. While they may be rightly convicted and imprisoned, they are still entitled to victim support. </p>
<p>But because so many remain unidentified in prison, they do not receive this support. Rather, many are at risk of being exploited further, including after they are released. Even if survivors are identified, prisons are often not equipped to provide mental health support for the <a href="https://modernslaverypec.org/resources/placing-survivor-wellbeing-on-the-policy-and-evidence-map">complex needs</a> of people who have experienced modern slavery. </p>
<p>Survivors and experts we interviewed consistently described how the prison environment could replicate the dynamic of modern slavery experiences. A forensic psychologist we interviewed explained: “The experience of being locked up, the experience of being controlled by people, absolutely parallels the entrapment that they experienced within their trafficking.”</p>
<p>Overcrowding may mean that survivors cannot be moved to a safe environment. Some of the prison staff we spoke to said that victims may even be imprisoned with their traffickers. </p>
<p>Prison staff told us how vulnerable people in prison are exploited through gang activity. They may be forced to participate in illegal activity such as selling mobile phones or drug distribution and are often <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-99658-1_21">exploited further through debt</a> they incur in prisons.</p>
<p>And once they are due to be released, the absence of communication with the organsiations who support modern slavery survivors may put them at risk of being re-trafficked. As one former member of prison staff described: “The gates open, they walk out … exploiters would meet them at gates.”</p>
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<img alt="close up of two pairs of hands exchanging a small bag of white tablets for cash" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562393/original/file-20231129-31-ehk2ew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562393/original/file-20231129-31-ehk2ew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562393/original/file-20231129-31-ehk2ew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562393/original/file-20231129-31-ehk2ew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562393/original/file-20231129-31-ehk2ew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562393/original/file-20231129-31-ehk2ew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562393/original/file-20231129-31-ehk2ew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">People may be forced into criminal activity as part of their exploitation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/drug-trafficking-crime-addiction-sale-concept-461891548">Ground Picture/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>The prison service in England and Wales introduced <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1153251/HMPPS_Modern_Slavery_Guidance_March_23_-_external_version.docx">modern slavery guidance</a> in 2022, laying out for prison staff how to identify and respond to suspected modern slavery. </p>
<p>While this, and the addition of Spocs, is a welcome effort, it highlights the gaps in the UK’s approach to the issue. Similar guidance does not exist for prisons in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and there is no international guidance or models in other countries to turn to. </p>
<p>Our findings suggest that there is still a huge blind spot in identifying and supporting some of the most vulnerable people in the prison system. Ultimately, countries need to step up their efforts in punishing the traffickers, not their victims.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218627/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marija Jovanovic received funding for this research from the Modern Slavery and Human Rights Policy and Evidence Centre (Modern Slavery PEC), which in turn is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). The research was conducted in collaboration between the University of Essex, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in the UK and Hibiscus Initiatives. The full report and further information about the project could be found here: <a href="https://modernslaverypec.org/latest/groundbreaking-research-uncovers-reality-of-modern-slavery-survivors-in-uk-prisons">https://modernslaverypec.org/latest/groundbreaking-research-uncovers-reality-of-modern-slavery-survivors-in-uk-prisons</a></span></em></p>Survivors of modern slavery may be exploited further in prison.Marija Jovanovic, Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor), University of EssexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2155622023-11-07T15:08:32Z2023-11-07T15:08:32ZLonger sentences? Overcrowded UK prisons are already failing society<p>The UK government plans to impose tougher sentences on those convicted of serious crimes, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-67337441">it announced</a> via this year’s king’s speech at the state opening of parliament. Political pundits reacting to the speech <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001s7n5/the-state-opening-of-parliament-2023">on the BBC</a> immediately questioned the rationale behind potentially putting more people in prison, when UK prisons are struggling to accommodate those already under their purview.</p>
<p>The England and Wales prison watchdog <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/sep/25/one-in-10-prisons-in-england-and-wales-should-be-shut-down-watchdog-says">has said</a> that one in ten prisons in those two countries should be shut down because of overcrowding and inhumane regimes. Similar concerns <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-66121355">have been voiced</a> over prisons in Scotland and in <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-67228069">Northern Ireland</a>. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-dire-state-of-british-prisons-and-what-they-could-learn-from-europe-to-get-better-212907">deteriorating state of the UK’s prisons</a> was emphasised most recently by news reports that, in August 2023, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-66121355">an Irish judge</a> blocked a man’s extradition to Scotland, due to the long hours prisoners in the Scottish estate spend in cells (up to 22 hours a day). The judge also raised concerns about this man’s complex mental health needs, <a href="https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/research-and-analysis/2022/09/understanding-mental-health-needs-scotlands-prison-population/documents/understanding-mental-health-needs-scotlands-prison-population/understanding-mental-health-needs-scotlands-prison-population/govscot%3Adocument/understanding-mental-health-needs-scotlands-prison-population.pdf">highlighting recent research</a> which identified poor recognition of neuro-developmental disorders across the UK prison estate, despite their relatively high prevalence.</p>
<p>And in September 2023 <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/sep/05/germany-refuses-extradite-albanian-man-uk-jail-conditions">a German court</a> in Karlsruhe followed suit, refusing to extradite a man to the UK. Here too, the court report cited concerns over prison conditions in a decision described by a member of the UK’s Law Society as a “severe rebuke” and “an embarrassment for the UK”. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.sccjr.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Getting-it-right-for-families-Briefing-Paper.pdf">our research</a> and the wider body of scholarship <a href="https://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/sites/crimeandjustice.org.uk/files/PSJ%20263%2C%20Families%20inside.pdf">makes clear</a>, what happens on the inside affects both those who are incarcerated and the prison staff. And those struggles, in turn, affect people on the outside – often profoundly. </p>
<h2>The UK’s high rates of imprisonment</h2>
<p>Overcrowding is not a new problem, but is now being seen and felt – as HM Chief Inspector of Prisons for Scotland Wendy Sinclair-Gieben put it in her annual report for 2022-2023 – at an <a href="https://www.prisonsinspectoratescotland.gov.uk/sites/default/files/publication_files/HM%20Chief%20Inspectors%20of%20Prisons%20Scotland%20-%20Annual%20Report%20-%202022-2023.pdf">“exacerbated scale”</a>.</p>
<p>British <a href="https://theconversation.com/prison-numbers-set-to-rise-24-in-england-and-wales-it-will-make-society-less-safe-not-more-172566">rates of imprisonment</a> are among the highest in western Europe. In Scotland, the prison population rate stands at <a href="https://www.prisonstudies.org/country/united-kingdom-scotland">144 per 100,000</a> of the national population. In England and Wales, the figure is a little higher, at <a href="https://www.prisonstudies.org/country/united-kingdom-england-wales">146 per 100,000</a>. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://wp.unil.ch/space/files/2023/06/230626_Key-Findings-SPACE-I_Prisons-and-Prisoners-in-Europe-2022.pdf">European average</a>, by contrast, is 118 per 100,000 population (although the median is lower, at 104 per 100,000). The UK’s close European neighbours including the Republic of Ireland, the Netherlands and Germany, as well as all the Nordic nations, have <a href="https://wp.unil.ch/space/files/2023/06/230626_Key-Findings-SPACE-I_Prisons-and-Prisoners-in-Europe-2022.pdf">rates of less than 90 per 100,000</a>. </p>
<p>Imprisonment rates have been <a href="https://prisonreformtrust.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/prison_the_facts_2023.pdf">climbing</a> in England and Wales over the last 30 years, as well as <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/hojo.12516?af=R">in Scotland</a> with rates described as “stubbornly high” by criminologists. Yet, overall rates of crime have been <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/bulletins/crimeinenglandandwales/yearendingjune2023">consistently falling</a> in England and Wales and <a href="https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/statistics/2023/06/recorded-crime-scotland-2022-23/documents/recorded-crime-scotland-2022-23/recorded-crime-scotland-2022-23/govscot%3Adocument/recorded-crime-scotland-2022-23.pdf">Scotland alike</a>. </p>
<p>In Northern Ireland, historically, rates of imprisonment have been closer to those in the Republic of Ireland. While the current rate (99 per 100,000) is lower than the other UK jurisdictions, <a href="https://www.justice-ni.gov.uk/sites/default/files/publications/justice/Northern-Ireland-Prison-Population-2022-23.pdf">it is rising</a>.</p>
<h2>How incarceration impacts prisoners, families and society</h2>
<p>Research has long shown that overcrowded prisons <a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/IJPH-04-2018-0014/full/pdf?title=overcrowding-and-its-impact-on-prison-conditions-and-health">serve no one</a>. For those incarcerated, they are harder environments to live in. They reduce opportunities to engage in programmes. They increase people’s risk of coming to physical harm, with rising tensions and inadequate staffing to de-escalate and respond. </p>
<p>For prison staff, overcrowding intensifies an inherently complex and demanding job. Officers <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/hojo.12394">expend considerable emotional labour</a> in carrying out their roles. When they are put in charge of more people than a facility is designed to accommodate, the extra burden <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/sep/28/prisons-struggle-to-keep-staff-as-officers-leave-for-border-force-and-police">fuels</a> a cycle of burnout, attrition and understaffing. </p>
<p>Our research <a href="https://www.sccjr.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Getting-it-right-for-families-Briefing-Paper.pdf">shows</a> that the wider impact of bad prison conditions is felt by the families of loved ones in custody – and society at large. Data is not routinely captured on the number of family members affected by imprisonment, although the UK charity, Families Outside, estimates that around <a href="https://www.familiesoutside.org.uk/27000-children-in-scotland-are-given-new-rights/">27,000 children in Scotland</a> alone are affected by the imprisonment of a parent each year. </p>
<p>Part of the impact on families is literally <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0961463X16633235">hanging around and waiting</a>, in all kinds of ways – waiting for the <a href="https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-8372/CBP-8372.pdf">trial</a>, waiting for <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/02645505211025592#bibr43-02645505211025592">the bus</a> to go to the prison and waiting <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0264550516663644">in corridors</a> before the visit.</p>
<p>Further, family members <a href="https://www.sccjr.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Getting-it-right-for-families-Briefing-Paper.pdf">experience</a> societal stigma and judgment, along with financial stresses. Some suffer from the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13668803.2011.580125?needAccess=true">loss of breadwinner earnings</a>. The family member outside may need to do less paid work, to do more <a href="https://www.jrf.org.uk/report/poverty-and-disadvantage-among-prisoners-families">(unpaid) childcare</a>, which the (now) prisoner previously did. </p>
<p>In addition, the emotional toll on families is pronounced. <a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JCP-03-2017-0011/full/html">Keeping in touch</a> is very important. This in turn also adds pressure to household budgets however, for example with <a href="https://www.familiesoutside.org.uk/content/uploads/2022/11/Paying-the-Price-October-22022.pdf">travel costs</a> associated with prison visits.</p>
<p>Sociologists have long warned about the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2632666320936432">“pains of imprisonment”</a>, the unique deprivations – of liberty, security, autonomy – that characterise a prison sentence. Family members frequently, and intensely, worry about the impact on incarcerated loved ones. As one family member in a study one of us (Rebecca Foster) undertook in 2019 <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-12744-2_13">put it</a>: “If it’s hard visiting, it’s a lot worse being in there. You need to remember that.”</p>
<p>Building more prisons, will not, <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1038765/prisons-strategy-white-paper.pdf">as has been suggested</a>, result in less overcrowding, nor in a reduction in its associated ills. Rather, it will just see <a href="https://howardleague.org/blog/it-is-time-to-stop-building-prisons/">more people</a> being sent to fill them. </p>
<p>Truly addressing overcrowding has to start with <a href="https://cdn.penalreform.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/10-pt-plan-overcrowding.pdf">reducing the number of people</a> sent to prison in the first place. Community-based punishments should prevail, with prison reserved for only the most <a href="https://www.iprt.ie/site/assets/files/6132/scotlands_choice.pdf">serious offenders</a>. The <a href="https://theconversation.com/fixing-the-prison-crisis-in-birmingham-and-beyond-its-about-more-than-process-and-punishment-102134">harms of imprisonment</a> have always had a ripple effect. Prisons at crisis point cause even more, far-reaching damage.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215562/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rebecca Foster has previously received funding from the Dawes Trust, the Scottish Government, and the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kirstin Anderson previously received funding from the Scottish Government, Royal Society of Edinburgh, the British Academy and the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research. </span></em></p>The UK imprisons more people than most of its western European neighbours and the conditions in its prisons are getting worse.Rebecca Foster, Lecturer in Criminology, Edinburgh Napier UniversityKirstin Anderson, Lecturer in Criminology, Edinburgh Napier UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2131662023-09-12T16:09:05Z2023-09-12T16:09:05ZDaniel Khalife: escapes are just one symptom of a failing prison system<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547516/original/file-20230911-17-b7cr2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=45%2C28%2C3756%2C2489&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">HMP Wandsworth.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/london-march-2018-exterior-her-majestys-1049300663">William Barton/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Following the recapture of escaped terror suspect Daniel Khalife, there will no doubt be an inquiry into the prison system and how an inmate managed to apparently strap himself to a van and be driven out under the noses of prison security. But whether another inquiry prompted by a prison escape will actually focus on the very many problems besetting the UK’s prison system is another matter altogether.</p>
<p>This is the first time I’ve seen this much attention paid to prisons since I <a href="https://www.bitebackpublishing.com/books/out-of-sight-out-of-mind">published my book</a> on the failure of Britain’s prisons a decade ago. As a former governor of HMP Belmarsh and Brixton, as well as a former prisons inspector, I am intimately familiar with the reality behind the intrigue of a prison escape.</p>
<p>The current structure of the English and Welsh prison service is predicated on escapes. The 1960s saw several <a href="https://www.bitebackpublishing.com/books/out-of-sight-out-of-mind">high-profile prison escapes</a>, most notably the Great Train Robbers, Charlie Wilson (from HMP Winson Green, Birmingham) and Ronnie Biggs (also from HMP Wandsworth). This was followed by the even more audacious escape of spy George Blake from Wormwood Scrubs in October 1966.</p>
<p>The resultant furore triggered an inquiry and subsequent <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/23635215">report by Lord Mountbatten</a>. A key outcome was the creation of the prison categorisation system, <a href="https://prisonjobs.blog.gov.uk/your-a-d-guide-on-prison-categories/">A,B,C,D</a>, which is still in place today. </p>
<p>The highest security prisons are Category A, and the lowest are Category D – “open” prisons, with minimal security. In the latter, prisoners who have been risk-assessed are allowed to spend most of their day away from the prison for work or education. Most prisoners are located in a Category C, which are training and resettlement prisons. Prisoners will have a relatively short time left to serve and security is only a 5m fence. </p>
<p>HMP Wandsworth, where Khalife escaped from, is a Category B – less secure than a Category A, these are either local or training prisons. The former hold prisoners from the local area (sentenced or on remand), while the latter hold long-term and some high-security prisoners. </p>
<p>Sixty years later, this system still determines how prisons are run and funded. The <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1140557/costs-per-place-and-costs-per-prisoner-2021-to-2022-summary.pdf">average annual overall cost</a> of a prison place in England and Wales is now £48,162. The cost in a high-security prison can be double this, and half as much in an open prison. </p>
<h2>Ease of escape</h2>
<p>From the 1960s – and for the rest of the century – escapes dominated the prison psyche. In those days you could run and hide, you could just about get by, and if sufficiently equipped, make it to the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2021/may/20/a-united-nations-of-how-marbella-became-a-magnet-for-gangsters">“Costa Del Crime”</a>, where the lack of an extradition treaty between the UK and Spain from 1978 until 1985 made it a desirable <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2001/nov/23/ukcrime.derekbrown">destination for criminals</a>.</p>
<p>While escapes over secure Victorian prison walls get all the attention, it has always been easier to get out between prisons – on the way to courts and hospitals, where the only “perimeter” is a hapless individual or two on low pay in a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2013/apr/30/two-escape-prison-van-salford">glorified transit van</a>.</p>
<p>It would also have been simplicity itself for a gang to break in and get you out. But while the movies enthusiastically embraced such scenarios, serious organised criminals and terrorists baulked at the challenge, given the resources required and the high levels of surveillance in the modern world. The last such escape was by helicopter from <a href="https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/local-news/one-uks-most-daring-prison-7951589">HMP Gartree in 1987</a>.</p>
<p>Escape rates have <a href="https://data.justice.gov.uk/prisons/public-protection/escapes">fallen over the years</a>. A major turning point was the escape of six prisoners from a special security unit at Whitemoor Prison in Cambridge on September 1994. The escape led to the <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/272031/2741.pdf">Woodcock inquiry</a>, which recommended an overhaul of security mechanisms and procedures that effectively introduced the “maximum-security” of today.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the success of prisons is still largely measured primarily on two things, escapes and riots. Both are now rare, not because of the success of politicians, but because the world has changed. </p>
<p>If you escape today, there is nowhere to hide in a world of high surveillance and communications. George Blake <a href="https://spyscape.com/article/the-spy-who-got-away-george-blake-and-the-great-prison-escape">got to Moscow</a>, Daniel Khalife only made it as far as Chiswick. Many escapees <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-39037965">simply go home</a>. A few organised criminals sprung from prison vans are caught at their next crime scene. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A pair of hands hanging onto the top of a concrete wall, topped with barbed wire" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547520/original/file-20230911-21-mgmn6z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547520/original/file-20230911-21-mgmn6z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547520/original/file-20230911-21-mgmn6z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547520/original/file-20230911-21-mgmn6z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547520/original/file-20230911-21-mgmn6z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547520/original/file-20230911-21-mgmn6z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547520/original/file-20230911-21-mgmn6z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Prison escapes have fallen over the years.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/mens-hands-on-concrete-fence-against-1738368002">Anakumka/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Crime within prison</h2>
<p>The current chief inspector of prisons, <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/wandsworth-prison-inmates-daniel-khalife-b2408061.html">Charlie Taylor</a>, and his predecessors over the past two decades have told us all we need to know about deteriorating prison conditions, <a href="https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprisons/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2022/07/Wandsworth-IRP-web-2022.pdf">including at Wandsworth</a>. Overcrowding and high staff turnover are two of many chronic problems that likely contributed to the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/sep/07/daniel-khalife-escape-uk-prison-conditions">lax security</a> Khalife took advantage of.</p>
<p>But this rare escape is overshadowing other security breaches that we don’t talk about.</p>
<p>Prisoners, even those who do not escape, are resourceful. Some will spend their time gaining qualifications, skills and training, although such opportunities are <a href="https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5803/cmselect/cmeduc/56/summary.html">declining</a>, largely due to <a href="https://www.prisonerseducation.org.uk/2022/08/prison-education-undervalued-and-under-resourced/">lack of funding</a>.</p>
<p>Others can make money smuggling drugs and mobile phones in an environment where the prices are inflated, the demand insatiable and the business lucrative. A recent <a href="https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprisons/inspections/hmp-woodhill-urgent-notification/">inspection of HMP Woodhill</a> – a purpose built, hi-tech Category A jail Mountbatten would be proud of – revealed 38% of prisoners were testing positive for drugs (a gross underestimation in my experience). </p>
<p>Serous organised crime is seriously well-organised in prison, helped by demoralised, poorly trained, poorly paid and poorly led staff who are easy prey to manipulation, intimidation and threats. </p>
<p>It would be nice to think that Khalife’s escape is trigger for society to wake up to the dire circumstances in Britain’s failing prison system. This brief media frenzy comes after two decades of malaise, where politicians can’t think beyond “getting tough” on crime. But it is further proof of what I and many others have argued for years: Britian’s prisons, in their current form, do not work.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213166/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Podmore does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Escapes are rare, and overshadow the security breaches going on inside prisons every day.John Podmore, Professor of Sociology, Durham UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2129072023-09-12T15:12:41Z2023-09-12T15:12:41ZThe dire state of British prisons – and what they could learn from Europe to get better<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547738/original/file-20230912-23-8vd3jw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=78%2C18%2C3947%2C2999&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Reading prison was closed in 2013.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/reading-december-4-exhibition-inside-artists-529760236">photocritical/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Prisoners and prison officers have long been familiar with the dire state of the UK’s prisons. The escape of <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-66768840">Daniel Khalife</a> from HMP Wandsworth in London now has many people wondering what life is like behind bars. </p>
<p>The day before – and certainly overshadowed by – Khalife’s escape, a German court <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/sep/05/germany-refuses-extradite-albanian-man-uk-jail-conditions">refused to extradite</a> an Albanian man to the UK because of concern about the UK’s prison conditions. The man lived in the UK but was arrested in Germany, so Westminster magistrates court had requested his return.</p>
<p>We know that prisons in England have been worse than at least some European countries for around 250 years. This is thanks to British prison reformer and philanthropist <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/gb/universitypress/subjects/history/british-history-after-1450/state-prisons-england-and-wales-preliminary-observations-and-account-some-foreign-prisons?format=PB&isbn=9781108064521">John Howard</a>, who made it his life’s work to visit and write about prisons in the UK and mainland Europe from the 1770s.</p>
<p>Howard found prisons in the UK full of emaciated, ill and suffering prisoners. These were stinking hell holes, with typhus (termed “jail fever”) taking many prisoners’ lives. He found prisons in places like Belgium and the Netherlands so much cleaner and quieter that it embarrassed him. He was “put to the blush”, as he put it, thinking of the sharp contrast between how prisoners were treated humanely in Europe but exposed to atrocious conditions in the UK.</p>
<h2>Prisons today</h2>
<p>Fast forward to the 21st century, and some of these differences remain apparent. The last decade or so has been especially harmful. As part of austerity, prison budgets were cut and frontline staffing was <a href="https://prisonreformtrust.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Prison-the-facts-2022.pdf">reduced by 26% between 2010 and 2017</a>. Staff turnover has increased, and overall the staff now are less experienced than before.</p>
<p><a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1131608/safety-in-custody-q3-2022.pdf">Official statistics</a> show assaults in prisons have increased. There were 20,872 assault incidents in the 12 months to September 2022, an 11% rise from the year before. Among these were 7,356 assaults against staff, and 2,341 serious assault incidents (both prisoner-on-prisoner and on staff), an increase of 21% from the previous 12 months. </p>
<p>This paints a picture of a prison estate that is not safe, either to serve time in or to work in. No wonder prison officers <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hm-prison-and-probation-service-workforce-quarterly-march-2022/her-majestys-prison-and-probation-service-workforce-quarterly-march-2022">are leaving the service</a> in larger numbers than before.</p>
<p>You can add to this the reports by the official inspectorate of prisons, HMIP. Recently the inspectorate called HMP Woodhill in Milton Keynes “unsafe”, and issued an <a href="https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprisons/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2023/08/Urgent-Notification-at-HMP-Woodhill.pdf">urgent notification</a> to the secretary of state about the high rates of self-harm, drug use and rundown infrastructure. </p>
<p>HMIP reports frequently feature photographs, which dispel any <a href="https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/britain-luxury-prisons-jails-prisoners-16980901">myth</a> that British prisons are like four-star hotels. They are anything but (see for instance this August 2023 report on <a href="https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprisons/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2023/08/Lowdham-Grange-web-2023.pdf">HMP Lowdham Grange</a> in Nottingham). Facilities are filthy, rotting and infected, and are completely incompatible with the prison service’s stated aim of rehabilitation and reducing reoffending. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Silhouette of a fence topped with barbed wire, against a yellow sky at dusk" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547740/original/file-20230912-29-5xvujr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547740/original/file-20230912-29-5xvujr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547740/original/file-20230912-29-5xvujr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547740/original/file-20230912-29-5xvujr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547740/original/file-20230912-29-5xvujr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547740/original/file-20230912-29-5xvujr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547740/original/file-20230912-29-5xvujr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Prisons in other countries show how things can be different.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/barbed-wire-steel-wall-against-immigations-576018154">Kodda/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/aug/05/three-quarters-of-prisons-in-england-and-wales-in-appalling-conditions-as-overcrowding-fears-grow">recent investigation</a> by the Observer newspaper found three quarters of UK prisons lacking in at least one key respect, while one third were simply judged unsafe. In response, Andrea Albutt, president of the Prison Governors Association, said prisons were “stuffed to the gunwales”, adding:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We are doing little more than warehousing people. The result is that we’re delivering really poor regimes in many of our prisons, with prisoners locked up for 22 hours a day. In a nutshell, it’s dangerous.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>With too many prisoners and too few staff, it is difficult to keep order in prison. Prisoners and staff are in survival mode, unable to rehabilitate or achieve other positive outcomes. In these chaotic settings, officers lose their ability to judge the mood on the wing, gather intelligence and be a positive influence. They may miss early signs that something is up, which might allow them to intervene before a crisis – such as an escape – actually occurs.</p>
<h2>What makes a good prison?</h2>
<p>Prisons elsewhere show that it doesn’t have to be this way. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/2578983X.2020.1809199">Prisons in Norway</a> and other Nordic countries are held up as examples and described as <a href="https://academic.oup.com/bjc/article/48/2/119/422635">exceptional</a>. They are smaller, staff and prisoners have more informal and positive interactions, food is better and there is more meaningful activity. Staff pay is better too. The buildings are in a much better physical state and, unlike the UK, there is an absence of overcrowding. </p>
<p>I studied open prisons in <a href="https://theconversation.com/i-deliberately-sent-myself-to-prison-in-iceland-they-didnt-even-lock-the-cell-doors-there-105257">Iceland from the inside out</a>. I found the food, cooked by prisoners, absolutely amazing, and healthy too. There was strong coffee freely available. Prisoners took part in classes, did paid work like tending animals, and prepared for their return to society in a non-traumatising environment. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/i-deliberately-sent-myself-to-prison-in-iceland-they-didnt-even-lock-the-cell-doors-there-105257">I deliberately sent myself to prison in Iceland – they didn't even lock the cell doors there</a>
</strong>
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<p>An important factor for prisoner wellbeing and rehabilitation is agency, which is much more common in Nordic prisons. Prisoners have choices and can make decisions. They can argue, for instance, that they are ready for open prison, and have a say in which open prison they prefer to go to. They can move freely within the prison. All these things sustain <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/26326663231160343">a sense of normality</a>, which can only help when prisoners make the jump back into society again.</p>
<p>In Germany, the country in which the court decided against transferring a suspect to the UK, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15564886.2020.1813230">prisons are better equipped for rehabilitation</a>. There is no overcrowding, which reduces the risk for violence. Its <a href="https://www.prisonstudies.org/sites/default/files/resources/downloads/world_prison_population_list_13th_edition.pdf">prison rate</a>, the overall number of prisoners per population, is nearly half of that of the UK: they simply lock up fewer people.</p>
<p>Prisons in the UK could do much better in preparing prisoners for release, and keeping people safe while in prison. But given the physical estate and the culture and atmosphere currently within <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/aug/05/three-quarters-of-prisons-in-england-and-wales-in-appalling-conditions-as-overcrowding-fears-grow">most prisons</a>, this remains an almighty challenge.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212907/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Francis Pakes does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Germany has refused to extradite a man to the UK due to the state of its prisons.Francis Pakes, Professor of Criminology, University of PortsmouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2111532023-08-11T14:14:53Z2023-08-11T14:14:53ZWhy imprisoning repeat shoplifters rarely breaks the cycle of offending – and what may work better<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541706/original/file-20230808-25-1obzzr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C16%2C5364%2C3910&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The possibility of introducing mandatory prison sentences for prolific shoplifters has been mooted by government ministers. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/londonenglandunited-kingdomjuly-21-2019-waterloo-rail-1676652064">Neil Bussey/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The UK government is taking a <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/action-plan-to-crack-down-on-anti-social-behaviour">harsher approach</a> to tackle criminal activity which is blighting local neighbourhoods. And recently, government ministers have been talking tough about repeat shoplifting, including <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/shoplifters-face-prison-under-crime-crackdown-ggdbv3j99">the possibility</a> of introducing new laws which would see prolific shoplifters imprisoned. This has all been against a backdrop of concern about a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/jun/01/one-guy-uses-us-like-a-larder-the-british-shoplifting-crisis-as-seen-from-the-tills">rise in shoplifting</a> across the UK.</p>
<p>But there are some serious practical problems with any such measures and questions remain over whether such a policy could break the cycle of offending. Meanwhile, there is an innovative approach to this issue which may be a better way of dealing with crimes such as shoplifting called “<a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/integrated-offender-management-iom">integrated offender management</a>” (IOM). </p>
<p>Rolled out over the past few years, IOM is a novel criminal justice approach that is designed to break the cycle of re-offending. It is operated by 39 out of 43 police forces in England and Wales. </p>
<p>IOM involves police officers working closely with prison and probation services and criminal justice intervention teams. These are support staff who provide both clinical and therapeutic interventions for drug users involved in the criminal justice system. It is all in an effort to change or control the criminal activities of prolific offenders. </p>
<p>IOM was designed to address the underlying causes of offending. By the end of 2020, it was <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/integrated-offender-management-strategy">central</a> to the government’s neighbourhood crime strategy. In a report issued that year, former minister for crime and policing Kit Malthouse and former minister for prisons and probation, Luzy Frazer, said: </p>
<p>“We need a new approach – one with the tools to come down with full force on those responsible, but which also encourages rehabilitation and supports offenders to overcome the complex problems that we know can fuel this type of behaviour, such as substance misuse, poor mental health and issues with housing or employment.”</p>
<p>Any proposals which would see prison sentences for repeat shoplifters could risk undoing any positive progress made under IOM. </p>
<h2>The problem with prison</h2>
<p>The UK’s prison estate is running out of capacity for adult males. In November 2022, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/nov/30/uk-government-requests-urgent-police-cells-male-prisoners">the Ministry of Justice announced</a> emergency measures that would see some offenders who would ordinarily be imprisoned (typically remand prisoners) housed in police cells. <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prison-population-figures-2023">Figures</a> released in August 2023 show a total of just 980 available prison places.</p>
<p>The government has <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/500-million-boost-to-create-thousands-of-new-prison-places">already stated</a> that more prisons need to be built. But any criminal justice initiative that requires new prisons will take a long time to deliver. This is because, on average, new prisons take <a href="https://consult.justice.gov.uk/digital-communications/proposed-new-prison-in-chorley/supporting_documents/chorleynewprisonconsultation.pdf">two to three years to build</a> and open. </p>
<p>Also, <a href="https://www.centreforsocialjustice.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/CSJ-Desperate-for-a-fix-WEB-1.pdf">70% of shoplifting</a> is estimated to be carried out by people funding an addiction to class A drugs – typically heroin and crack cocaine. These people arrive in prison as addicts and likely leave as addicts and so will continue shoplifting. Custody is not a panacea for prolific shoplifting and is unlikely to break the cycle of offending. </p>
<h2>Integrated offender management</h2>
<p>IOM work is done through a mix of rehabilitative and restrictive or enforcement-orientated interventions. Here, the police take a “<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10439463.2018.1547719">carrot and stick</a>” approach to the management of offenders. Plain-clothed officers, deployed as police offender managers, gather intelligence and monitor people for signs of re-offending. </p>
<p>Simultaneously, these officers attempt to draw offenders away from crime by working alongside the other agencies, facilitating access to drug services, education, employment and transitions into stable housing arrangements. This is the “carrot” approach. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="A police officer wearing a yellow high visibility jacket" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542123/original/file-20230810-18-i6hwim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542123/original/file-20230810-18-i6hwim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=715&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542123/original/file-20230810-18-i6hwim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=715&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542123/original/file-20230810-18-i6hwim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=715&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542123/original/file-20230810-18-i6hwim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542123/original/file-20230810-18-i6hwim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542123/original/file-20230810-18-i6hwim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Integrated offender management involves police officers working closely with other agencies.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/london-uk-19th-april-2019-police-1392717764">John Gomez/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Where there is evidence that a person is failing to comply with licence conditions, or engage with IOM positively, traditional catch-and-convict policing methods are used by uniformed patrol officers. This is the “stick” approach.</p>
<p>Prolific shoplifters are the type of offenders IOM schemes should be engaging with. </p>
<p>My own <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Integrated-Offender-Management-and-the-Policing-of-Prolific-Offenders/Cram/p/book/9780367254148">research</a> has focused on how police officers contribute to IOM schemes. </p>
<p>I have also spoken with offenders who were engaged with IOM in the community. A number said that, while it was initially challenging to do so, in time they were able to form working relationships with police officers. </p>
<p>And, significantly, because of this, IOM had had a positive impact on their lives. This was particularly the case when it came to IOM helping them enter employment and tackle any drug-related issues they were experiencing. </p>
<p>Broadly, IOM seemed to have a strong motivational influence and a positive impact on those who wanted to leave their criminal lifestyle behind. </p>
<p>But IOM can only fully operate when people are able to access the relevant support services in the community. People may be able to get very limited employment and substance misuse help when in prison, but IOM offers a much deeper and enduring level of support. </p>
<p>The prospect of removing sentencing discretion for prolific shoplifters from magistrates and judges and introducing mandatory jail sentences, would risk disrupting a significant criminal justice programme. IOM may be a better and more cost effective way to deal with the pressing issue of repeated shoplifting.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211153/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>My original research, on Integrated Offender Management, was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council. Grant number: EF/H011382/1.</span></em></p>Integrated offender management is a better way of dealing with shoplifters than prison.Frederick Cram, Lecturer in Law, Cardiff UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2038112023-04-19T11:22:06Z2023-04-19T11:22:06ZPrison food: what we learned from organising food-themed art workshops for women prisoners<p>There are two common misconceptions about food in British prisons: that it is either not fit for human consumption, or too luxurious to be enjoyed by those in prison. The artworks produced by the women prisoners in our project broke down both these myths.</p>
<p>For imprisoned people, creating artworks can be a critical step in overcoming the barriers to discussing sensitive issues such as <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03069885.2011.621526">drug use</a>, <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1468794117694219?journalCode=qrja">mental health</a> or <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/00328855221079282?journalCode=tpjd">suicide</a>.</p>
<p>As part of <a href="https://doingporridge.com/">Doing Porridge</a>, a two-year project examining the role of food in women’s prisons, we organised workshops for women prisoners in the south-east and north of England. </p>
<p>The classes were facilitated by an art teacher who had expertise in running art programmes with people in prison. The aim was to create a space for open discussion of prison food. The final works were displayed at an exhibition entitled <a href="https://koestlerarts.org.uk/exhibitions/regional-exhibitions/on-my-plate-2023/">On My Plate</a> in Bracknell, Berkshire, in partnership with the prisons charity, Koestler Arts. </p>
<p>The women we worked with saw prison food as another form of social control. Many said they felt a loss of identity due to not cooking for themselves.</p>
<p>However, we also found some women had taken back small pockets of control by being creative with the resources they had in their cells or communal areas to concoct meals. One woman even spoke about baking a cheesecake using the microwave.</p>
<h2>What the artworks told us</h2>
<p>The diverse artworks from our workshops exemplified the tensions and challenges associated with the provision and consumption of prison food. They also highlighted the issues of body image, lack of choice, escape, and problems at home that are experienced by many women prisoners.</p>
<p>Body image is <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1462474515623103?journalCode=puna">a contentious issue</a> for incarcerated women. Many of the artworks centred on the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1467-954X.00363">high-carb food</a> and lack of opportunities to exercise. These images often represented the change in the naked body and symbolised the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/hojo.12097">anxieties the women experienced</a> about their weight in prison.</p>
<p>Prisons are “<a href="https://www.asdan.org.uk/media/ek3p22qw/corston-report-march-2007.pdf">designed by men for men</a>”. For many women, being confined in a space that takes away freedom limits the ability to celebrate their personal identity. Analysing these artworks can develop our understanding of how they feel about their womanhood.</p>
<p>Another theme that emerged was the women’s experience of the monotonous, unchanging menus of the prison kitchen. </p>
<p>One of the images illustrated a tin of beans with the word “AGAIN” in capitals. This highlighted the distress of eating the same types of food for a long period of time, and the long-awaited but unsatiated need for nutritious and culturally diverse food.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1557085118769748?casa_token=jE7uUmOidvAAAAAA:JpUK3QPx1ubDxFEI7ku-bQXt9NVEX4oQ3IGozb1Ic8b8LcyxXiEa4zRDtCliAdT5ps8cCtGLid7oSf0">importance of choice</a> in prison appeared in much of the artwork produced, from the desire for healthier food to frustrations about not having the choice to make informed decisions about what and how they eat. </p>
<p>This can be seen in motifs like bananas with human features, symbolising the desire for fruit and vegetables which are not always accessible, available or nutritious in prison.</p>
<p>In one poetic illustration entitled I Am the Artist, a prisoner wrote: “I am what I eat.” This was followed by a commentary on the foods she ate on the outside, that she saw as contributing to her identity: “I am feta: I am beetroot: I am peanut butter.”</p>
<h2>Food’s connection to home</h2>
<p>Home life was another prevalent theme, reflecting the need of many to escape the realities of prison life. Creating these artworks also provided comfort for some of the women, as they shared testimonies of the food they ate growing up, and what food they desired the most while in prison.</p>
<p>Motifs included beaches, eating with loved ones and tasty desserts, which were seen as an unobtainable fantasy – this type of food is a privilege not afforded in prison.</p>
<p>Often, art with the theme of home life represented the women’s desire to feel “normal”, something they associated with the memories and emotions around food in the home.</p>
<p>Understanding these food-themed artworks produced by imprisoned women allows a better understanding of the social inequalities they are experiencing while incarcerated. </p>
<p>Exploring their relationships with food brought invaluable understanding of their often complex and traumatic experiences, as well as the intersection of inequalities they face, from racism to sexism and poverty.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203811/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Maria Adams receives funding from Economic Social Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jon Garland receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Erin Power does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The artworks created by women in prison brought us greater understanding of their often complex and traumatic experiencesMaria Adams, Senior lecturer, University of SurreyErin Power, Research Fellow, Department of Sociology, Liverpool John Moores UniversityJon Garland, Professor of Criminology, University of SurreyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1725662021-11-30T14:13:23Z2021-11-30T14:13:23ZPrison numbers set to rise 24% in England and Wales – it will make society less safe, not more<p>The Ministry of Justice is banking on England and Wales’ prison numbers rising by 23.7% by March 2026, predicting that the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/prison-population-projections-2021-to-2026">prison population will climb</a> from 79,580 to 98,500. Matched by an <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-s-greenest-and-most-innovative-prison-unveiled">intention to build space</a> for 20,000 extra prison places, this would take numbers to an all-time high for the two countries.</p>
<p>It is mainly the sentenced population rather than the remand population (those awaiting trial) that is predicted to grow. The numbers of those recalled back to prison is set to grow as well. The number of men, women, children and prisoners over 50 years of age are all expected to increase.</p>
<p>Yet evidence shows that far from cutting crime, increasing the prison rate is likely to have a negative effect on wider society. It goes against the approach many other countries are now taking to reduce their prison populations.</p>
<p>The Ministry of Justice says the main reason for the increase is the planned addition of 23,400 police officers. There are other factors listed, particularly in the area of sentencing. But the boost in police officer numbers is expected to lead to more people being charged with a criminal offence and running the risk of a prison sentence. </p>
<p>Most police officers may well “find” more crime, but it may lead to further overpolicing of poor neighbourhoods and certain ethnic minority youngsters. And this won’t make us safer.</p>
<p>It is telling that the announcement does not say that the increase in prisoner numbers has anything to do with any predicted or experienced rise in crime. It is well established that prison rates and crime rates operate largely independent from each other. Similarly, evidence shows an increase of the use of imprisonment has only a <a href="https://www.vera.org/downloads/publications/for-the-record-prison-paradox_02.pdf">marginal effect</a> on crime rates.</p>
<h2>Fewer prisoners, safer country</h2>
<p>We can therefore conclude that the predicted increase in prisoners in England and Wales is driven by something else. What we see in the is a political initiative to increase the prison population. It is an example of <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9780203963678/penal-populism-john-pratt">penal populism</a>, where government devises policy to appeal to certain groups of voters, and influential organisations like newspapers and right-wing think tanks, rather than rely on evidence. </p>
<p>A big increase in the prison population is not something to celebrate. We know from decades of research around the world that prison does not work. Prison does not <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-019-0604-8.epdf?author_access_token=DkRTKnN52jSa57DJfVSJr9RgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0N7DXAiRotAfXgj74hPXiD-HZ6bhC4ubDMXB7DKYA3al6M-fCC0R_xN_AocUuu46fM4E15xMiYZ3e27XAy7L-UXmAaZMQeNezpSFXaAdGs_Zw%3D%3D">reduce reoffending</a>, and, on average, fails to prepare prisoners for a successful return to society. </p>
<p>Recidivism rates – relapses into criminal behaviour – are high and have been so <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0130390">for decades</a>. Psychological interventions in prison do not seem to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221503662100170X">make much difference</a> either.</p>
<p>The truth about prisons is that they are simply too traumatising, too dangerous, and too disruptive to life and self to be able to offer a positive future. Most are places in which only the most resilient and determined prisoners are able to reinvent themselves and leave their criminal past behind. </p>
<p>The projected growth in prison numbers would reverse the decline from 87,000 prisoners seen since 2012. Again, this wasn’t related to crime rates. Rather, prison rates were actively reduced by stealth. Austerity measures reduced the number of police officers, but a reduction in the number of courts and courtrooms was <a href="https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-8372/CBP-8372.pdf">already underway</a> before then, and has continued since. </p>
<p>Not only would an increase in the prison population mark a break in the previous trend for England and Wales, it would also be out of sync with global patterns. The prison rate is going down in many countries, including some of the most incarcerative nations like the US and Russia. </p>
<p>The US, once the world leader in incarceration rates, has seen a reduction of its prison population from 2.3 million in 2008 to just under 1.8 million in early 2021, a <a href="https://www.vera.org/downloads/publications/people-in-jail-and-prison-in-spring-2021.pdf">reduction of 23%</a>. This is in part due to fewer prosecutions but also because of sentencing reforms like the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/dec/18/first-step-act-criminal-justice-reform-passes-senate">First Step Act 2018</a> which allows for less draconian sentencing, notably in the area of drugs offences.</p>
<p>Even more dramatically, the Russian prison population has almost halved in 20 years, from over 1 million prisoners to just over 500,000, according to the <a href="https://www.prisonstudies.org/country/russian-federation">World Prison Brief</a>. Closer to the UK, the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1477370819896220">prison rate in the Netherlands</a> dropped over 40% in less than a decade, with more than 25 Dutch prisons closed or repurposed as a result. </p>
<p>Both <a href="https://www.prisonstudies.org/country/united-kingdom-scotland">Scotland</a> and <a href="https://www.prisonstudies.org/country/united-kingdom-northern-ireland">Northern Ireland</a> have also seen a decrease since 2012. England and Wales, therefore, are set to buck a national, a regional and a global trend. </p>
<p>The UK would be wiser to emulate the reduction in the prison populations seen around the world. Society would be safer for it – and some of the excessive cost of imprisonment could be better used elsewhere.</p>
<p>Prison produces individuals who are angry, traumatised, mentally unwell and who are likely to have lost their family support, social network and jobs. For many, these factors are likely to lead to relapses into criminal behaviour. Should we succeed in relying on imprisonment less, society will therefore be more, not less safe.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/172566/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Francis Pakes does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Increasing the prison population will put England and Wales out of step with their neighbours.Francis Pakes, Professor of Criminology, University of PortsmouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1687622021-09-28T12:37:30Z2021-09-28T12:37:30ZHMP Bronzefield stillbirth proves prison is not safe for pregnant women<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423535/original/file-20210928-22-w9y8x8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=16%2C0%2C5590%2C3741&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/close-prisoner-hands-jail-background-1031018551">Sakhorn/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>“Ms A”, an 18-year-old woman held on remand in HMP Bronzefield women’s prison in Middlesex, England, gave birth to her first child alone in her cell after her calls for help were ignored.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.ppo.gov.uk/news/ppo-ombudsman-sue-mcallister-publishes-independent-investigation-into-the-tragic-death-of-a-baby-at-hmp-bronzefield/">new report</a> from the prisons and probation ombudsman provides details on Ms A’s case and the tragic death of her newborn baby.</p>
<p>The report reinforces what <a href="https://www.welevelup.org/prison-campaign#:%7E:text=Prison%20Campaign%20%E2%80%94%20Level%20Up%20Prison%20will%20never,years%2C%20two%20babies%20born%20inside%20prison%20have%20died">campaigners</a>, charities and <a href="https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/jt201719/jtselect/jtrights/1610/report-files/161009.htm">researchers</a> have been saying for years – and what the prison ombudsman herself <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p09wrwqp">admitted</a> – prison is not a safe place for pregnant women. </p>
<p>The details of this case are hard to comprehend and truly harrowing. Ms A described how she became unconscious, and when she awoke, she found she had given birth to a baby who was not breathing. She bit through the umbilical cord, tying it in a loose knot, in an attempt to revive the baby. Ms A was found the next morning in her blood-covered cell, with her bed covers pulled up to her chin and her dead baby daughter tucked in bed with her.</p>
<h2>One of many</h2>
<p>My <a href="https://researchprofiles.herts.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/im-in-labour-im-telling-you-i-am-in-labour--what-is-the-experience-of-being-a-pregnant-woman-in-prison-findings-of-an-ethnographic-study(af0e3496-831f-490d-b9f2-51e2f4d4f3f4).html">2018 doctoral research</a> highlighted the dangers to pregnant women and new babies in prisons, through interviews with 28 women and ten staff members.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/nov/13/female-prisoners-in-england-left-to-give-birth-alone-in-their-cells-report-reveals">I found</a> that women were often left in a similar situation to Ms A where call bells were not answered, especially at night. The staff I spoke with for my report described babies who survived birth in prisons as “lucky”.</p>
<p>According to the ombudsman report, Ms A was regarded as “difficult” and fearful of authority, which staff perceived as challenging behaviour. The report blames maternity services for being “unimaginative and inflexible” in providing her care. <a href="https://researchprofiles.herts.ac.uk/portal/en/persons/laura-abbott(00a63dc4-0672-49e1-83c1-3e23c8230811).html">My research</a> found that the more pleasant a prisoner was, the more likely she would be to receive appropriate healthcare and entitlements, such as an additional pillow. </p>
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<p>How Ms A was subsequently treated was also criticised. Unlike the prison staff, she wasn’t offered <a href="https://www.insider.com/mother-lost-baby-jail-not-given-counselling-but-guards-did-2021-9">bereavement counselling</a>. This lack of emotional support to what was clearly a traumatic event was recounted by a woman in my study:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>To have to deal with [a cell birth] is such a trauma, then to come back [to prison] and somebody tell me that, “Oh, we could have lost both of you”, but not explain that, was awful, absolutely traumatic. I’m surprised actually I didn’t go into some form of depression, because all I kept thinking was, well, what do they mean? … I even asked if somebody would contact the midwives, or if they would contact the hospital and just find out what he meant, and nobody was willing to do that. Nobody was willing to find out anything. I still don’t know exactly what happened that night.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The report found that in the case of Ms A “there was no paediatric or neonatal emergency equipment in the prison and no staff were trained in neonatal resuscitation”. The ombudsman recommended stocking prisons with this equipment, but the proposal was rejected.</p>
<p>Newborns often need basic resuscitation as they adapt to life outside the mother. It is indefensible not to attempt to resuscitate a baby because of a lack of equipment or training.</p>
<p>Basic, inexpensive equipment would consist of a bag, neonatal valve and mask, warm clothing and a hat. <a href="https://unlockedgrads.org.uk/">Some organisations</a> already provide some training for prison officers that would be straightforward to roll out in women’s prisons. </p>
<h2>Fixing the wider problem</h2>
<p>Health research centre <a href="https://www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/public/news-item/pregnancy-and-childbirth-in-prison-what-do-we-know">the Nuffield Trust</a> found that around one in ten women prisoners give birth in cells or on the way to hospital. In 2017, a baby was stillborn on the way to hospital from Bronzefield – the same prison where Ms A gave birth in her cell.</p>
<p>If the government continues to insist on <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/sep/23/fear-of-more-baby-deaths-as-ministers-stand-firm-on-jailing-pregnant-women">imprisoning pregnant women</a>, many problems will need to be addressed to improve safety.</p>
<p>My research made several recommendations including specialist prison midwives leadership, 24-hour access to maternity care for all pregnant women and midwifery representation on the prison inspectorate. </p>
<p>In May 2016, <a href="https://www.birthcompanions.org.uk/resources/5-birth-charter-for-women-in-prison-in-england-and-wales#:%7E:text=Birth%20Charter%20for%20Women%20in%20Prison%20in%20England,Policy%2C%20Trauma-informed%20working%2C%20Understanding%20disadvantage%2C%20Women%20in%20prison">the Birth Charter</a> was distributed to all prisons in England. This document outlined recommendations for the care of pregnant women and new mothers in prison, and was written by charity Birth Companions with the Royal College of Midwives, with guidance from Unicef.</p>
<p>The Royal College of Midwives put out another report highlighting <a href="https://www.rcm.org.uk/media/3640/perinatal-women-in-the-criminal-justice-system_7.pdf">best practices</a> for maternity care in prisons. While these documents made similar recommendations, they have never been widely put into practice. </p>
<p>Prison systems are impenetrable for those on the outside. This includes midwives, who may be unfamiliar with the complex and rigid prison system, and who have to rely on staff to take them into prisons with their strict timetables. Yet even with the best midwifery services, if a call bell from a woman in labour is not answered and she is not swiftly transferred to the local maternity unit -– the outcomes are likely to be devastating.</p>
<p>Ms A had nobody to advocate for her. Having peer support may have helped to break down barriers for Ms A who, understandably, had concerns with authority. Midwives are not in prison at nighttime, but peer supporters may offer a supportive conduit between the woman and maternity services. The charity Birth Companions trains and supports prisoners to be maternity volunteers, so they are available through the night, similar to “listeners” trained by the Samaritans. </p>
<p>New <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pregnancy-mbus-and-maternal-separation-in-womens-prisons-policy-framework">mandatory guidance</a> was published this month, separate from the ombudsman report. It lays out requirements for how prisons should support pregnant women and new mothers in prison, including those who are incarcerated in mother and baby units, and those who are separated from their young children (up to age two).</p>
<p>The guidance calls for more emotionally sensitive care, specialist midwifery roles, dedicated pregnancy liaison officers and more training for staff in prisons.</p>
<p>But if these instructions are not applied in practice, all this new guidance does is improve what we see on paper, especially if very basic responses to cries for help are left unheard.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/168762/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laura Abbott does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The details of Ms A’s case reinforce what campaigners and midwives have been saying for years.Laura Abbott, Senior Lecturer in Midwifery, University of HertfordshireLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1581732021-04-13T15:34:26Z2021-04-13T15:34:26ZWhy deaf prisoners have been in a state of lockdown since well before COVID-19<p>The pandemic has worsened already dire conditions for prisoners since the UK Prison Service locked down the prison estate last year. Following drastic changes to the regime, most imprisoned people have since spent <a href="https://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/publications/psj/prison-service-journal-253">between 22 and 23 hours</a> in their cells every day. Since then, there have been <a href="https://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/publications/psj/prison-service-journal-253">wide reports</a> of severe isolation, despair, frustration and worsening mental wellbeing. </p>
<p>As part of these measures, face to face visits from family, access to education classes and offending behaviour programmes, and use of facilities such as the gym and library <a href="https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprisons/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2021/02/What-happens-to-prisoners-in-a-pandemic.pdf">were all suspended</a>. In seeking to minimise the spread of COVID-19, the Prison Service has created a scenario where prisoners are largely unable to meet the conditions of their sentence plans, see their loved ones or socially interact. </p>
<p>While the pandemic has had devastating consequences for prisoners, many of their experiences were already characterised by pain and deprivation. That’s largely because <a href="https://www.compen.crim.cam.ac.uk/system/files/documents/Revisitingthepainsofimprisonment.pdf">prison is an inherently harmful environment</a> in part due to uncertainty, dehumanisation, routine surveillance and a lack of autonomy. </p>
<p>However, for individuals who differ from the sort of person most prisons in the UK were originally intended to contain – <a href="http://clok.uclan.ac.uk/18620/1/cjp%20laura%20kelly%20for%20ref.PDF">young able-bodied, English-speaking, hearing, males</a> – these pains are amplified. Groups like <a href="https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9780230576681">women</a> and <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/edit/10.4324/9781315797779/handbook-prisons-yvonne-jewkes-ben-crewe-jamie-bennett">older people</a>, for example, have experienced significant issues in prisons for years.</p>
<h2>The d/Deaf prisoner experience</h2>
<p>These pains are particularly acute for prisoners who are deaf or Deaf. Those who are Deaf with a capital D are users of British Sign Language (BSL) - a visual language structured differently to written and verbal English. These individuals are <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/constructing-deafness-9780826461254/">considered part of the Deaf community</a>, where Deafness is valued as part of their identity. Whereas deaf people are those who have difficulties in hearing, who often use spoken and written English and view their deafness as an impairment. </p>
<p>Many prisons are ruled by sounds like <a href="https://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/publications/psj/prison-service-journal-234">tannoys, bells, alarms and voices</a>. Without access to sound adjusting equipment, the provision of <a href="https://bda.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/BDA-Deaf-Prisoners-Report-2016.pdf">which is inconsistent and sometimes non-existent</a>, d/Deaf prisoners can become very isolated and confused, commonly feeling like they have <a href="https://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/publications/psj/prison-service-journal-234">little option but to withdraw</a> from social life and prison more broadly. What’s more, without being able to hear, incarcerated d/Deaf people often <a href="https://howardleague.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Not_hearing_us.pdf">have difficulty</a> in meaningfully engaging in education, training or rehabilitative programmes that rely on English (written and spoken) for communication.</p>
<p>Similarly, important information (such as prison rules) is provided in a written format which cannot easily be understood <a href="http://clok.uclan.ac.uk/18620/1/cjp%20laura%20kelly%20for%20ref.PDF">by many Deaf prisoners</a> because BSL is visual and structurally different to verbal and written English. This can lead to confusion about how they’re expected to behave. This combined with a lack of access to relevant programmes and courses can result in increases to the length of prison sentences, as it leaves Deaf people unable to fulfil the requirements <a href="http://clok.uclan.ac.uk/18620/1/cjp%20laura%20kelly%20for%20ref.PDF">of their sentence plans</a>.</p>
<h2>Navigating the prison system</h2>
<p>One way for d/Deaf prisoners to attempt to manage formal aspects of prison like form filling is to seek help from their loved ones during visits. However, without adjustments such as BSL interpreters or hearing aids, d/Deaf prisoners often have difficulties communicating during visits. Issues with contacting loved ones are more fundamental though, <a href="http://clok.uclan.ac.uk/18620/1/cjp%20laura%20kelly%20for%20ref.PDF">given that a key way of maintaining contact is via the prison phone</a>, and without equipment such as minicoms (a phone that allows people to transmit typed messages down the phoneline), <a href="https://bda.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/BDA-Deaf-Prisoners-Report-2016.pdf">phonecalls are often unviable for d/Deaf prisoners</a>.</p>
<p>It’s also common for imprisoned people to use social interaction and engagement with other prisoners to make prison life more manageable. Yet a lack of access to hearing aids can also lead <a href="http://clok.uclan.ac.uk/18620/1/cjp%20laura%20kelly%20for%20ref.PDF">deaf prisoners to withdraw</a>. </p>
<p>For Deaf prisoners, a lack of access to others who can communicate in BSL can lead to almost complete isolation, something which clearly chimes with the experience for many prisoners during COVID-19. This can become akin to a form of enforced solitary confinement, creating an <a href="http://clok.uclan.ac.uk/18620/1/cjp%20laura%20kelly%20for%20ref.PDF">eerily lonely existence</a>.</p>
<p>Exclusion, isolation and loneliness all characterise d/Deaf people’s typical experiences of prison. The consequences of dealing with these issues can be fatal, as highlighted by the suicide of Tyrone Givans, who was deaf, in HMP Pentonville in 2018. Tyrone did not have access to his hearing aids during his sentence, which was found to be a contributing factor <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-47002051">to his death</a>.</p>
<p>Adjustments to help d/Deaf prisoners to access all aspects of the prison environment are possible, but they require <a href="http://clok.uclan.ac.uk/18620/1/cjp%20laura%20kelly%20for%20ref.PDF">awareness, resources and will</a> on an individual, organisational and political level, of which there is often little. Access to BSL interpreters is often <a href="https://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/publications/psj/prison-service-journal-234">underwhelming and inconsistent in prisons</a>, despite how much it could help to combat exclusion for Deaf prisoners. Placing multiple Deaf people together could also have <a href="https://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/publications/psj/prison-service-journal-234">significant benefits</a>, including communicating freely with others. </p>
<p>However, these benefits are only meaningful if staff are sufficiently Deaf aware, which is a challenge given that <a href="https://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/publications/psj/prison-service-journal-234">evidence suggests Deaf awareness among prison officials is uncommon</a>. Without this knowledge, staff may fail to understand why it’s important for Deaf prisoners to interact and be around each other. This lack of understanding also carries the danger of treating Deaf behaviours like signing as problematic. It’s an issue that can provoke suspicion that Deaf prisoners are plotting against staff and other prisoners, which in some contexts may lead to attempts to <a href="https://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/publications/psj/prison-service-journal-234">prevent signing altogether</a>.</p>
<p>The devastating impact that COVID-19 has had on imprisoned people across the prison estate is likely to lessen a little as lockdown restrictions ease (as began in a very limited way on 29 March, with plans to allow <a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-and-prisons">social visits to restart</a>). However, without meaningful change the isolation, loneliness, and exclusion that characterise the pandemic prison will likely remain for d/Deaf prisoners not only beyond lockdown, but indefinitely.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/158173/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Laura Kelly-Corless works for the University of Central Lancashire as a Lecturer in Criminology.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Daniel McCulloch has previously received funding from the Howard League for Penal Reform for his MA, the research for which explored the experiences of d/Deaf prisoners.</span></em></p>While the pandemic has had devastating consequences for imprisoned people, many of their experiences were already characterised by pain and deprivationLaura Kelly-Corless, Lecturer in Criminology, University of Central LancashireDaniel McCulloch, Lecturer in Criminology and Social Policy, The Open UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1405032020-06-15T13:07:55Z2020-06-15T13:07:55ZTrans and in prison during a pandemic: a rare glimpse behind bars<p>Overcrowded, confined spaces are a nightmare for the spread of coronavirus. This makes prisons a potential hotspot for the disease. </p>
<p>Despite this, most researchers who study prisons have been locked out of them at this crucial time. In the UK, the prison and probation service has halted primary research in prisons, giving us scant information about how prisoners have been affected by the pandemic. </p>
<p>But our team obtained permission to continue existing research exploring the experiences of England and Wales’ transgender and non-binary prisoners – some of the most vulnerable people in any prison. This was on the basis that the methodology placed minimal burden on staff, and the continuation of correspondence was within Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service policy of encouraging letter-writing during lockdown. </p>
<p>When the pandemic struck, we wrote two letters to our participants: one to reassure them that the project will continue, and another with a series of questions regarding their experience of the lockdown. To date, we have received 12 letters, excerpts from which are included below. Through them, we can provide a rare glimpse into the lives of trans and non-binary prisoners in the shadow of COVID-19, in their own words. </p>
<p>Transgender and non-conforming gender people are a vulnerable minority that suffer <a href="https://theconversation.com/half-of-transgender-and-non-binary-people-hide-their-identity-at-work-in-fear-of-discrimination-heres-how-you-can-help-115523">widespread discrimination in society</a>. However there is little academic research that has focused on transgender and non-conforming gender prisoners and their experiences of prison life. This article reports preliminary findings from what we believe is the first national academic study of this prison population in England and Wales.</p>
<h2>23 hours in a cell</h2>
<p>The UK’s lockdown policies apply to prisons as well as the general community. This means prisoners are currently locked in their cells for 23 to 23.5-hours per day and only allowed out for exercise in the yard, to collect their food and take it back to their cells, and to take a shower (in those prisons that do not have showers in the cells).</p>
<p>One study participant wrote:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I still get up around 7am, but instead of getting unlocked at 8am to go work, gym, etc we are only let out to pick up our food, twice a day, and have 30 minutes exercise outside. We are normally out of our cells from 8am to 8.15pm week days and 8.45am to 5.15pm on weekends. Now we get 30 minutes outside in the yard. The other 23½ hours are behind our doors.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Essential workers</h2>
<p>Just as essential workers need to keep going to work in the outside world, so do their prison equivalents. </p>
<p>Many of our correspondents continue with jobs that are essential for prison maintenance and to stop COVID. One wrote:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Our first job was putting up perspex screens at the meds hatches to help protect everyone. I’ve also emptied the COVID PPE [personal protective equipment] store after bio bags were isolated for 72 hours. A bonus of being an essential worker is daily showers and a £10 a week bonus. The other essential workers are … laundry workers, canteen pickers and tea packers (these make our tea bag, milk, sugar, packs that we get daily). </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Social distancing and the two-metre rule</h2>
<p>Prisons run a complex roster to manage the 30-60 minute window of out-of-cell time, letting prisoners out in small groups in order to maintain social distancing. However, many of our respondents are sceptical about the feasibility of keeping prisoners and prison staff two metres apart:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Social distancing in prison is just a joke. I wonder how inmates in shared cells can keep 2m distance from each other? … Most of the corridors and none of the stairs in this prison are even 2m wide. This is simply ridiculous and officers agree with me.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Leisure time</h2>
<p>Work, education, chapel and the gym have been cancelled, and libraries are closed. Yet, some prisons have managed to move the services closer to the prisoners. In one prison, the chaplaincy have started individual visits to the wings; in another, “the library has sent a box of books and DVDs to each wing that gets updated every couple of weeks”, a prisoner writes. Instead of going to the gym, prisoners are developing their own in-cell exercise routines. </p>
<p>To alleviate boredom, some prisons have started providing “distraction packs” including drawing, colouring, origami and crossword puzzles. Some are even running weekly quizzes and sudoku, poems or jokes competitions, for prizes of phone and canteen credits. </p>
<p>Access to the usual in-cell distraction, TV, has also improved: some prisons no longer charge the weekly TV fee; some have introduced more channels, including a new TV channel prisoners can watch to receive information. </p>
<h2>Giving back to the community</h2>
<p>Prisoners are also doing what they can in the fight against COVID-19 beyond the prison walls. Some prisons have provided an opportunity to donate to the NHS; some have started to use their workshops to produce PPE: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I told wing officer that I can set up a production of face masks in textiles workshop … a month later … together with one more prisoner … we designed and made few different styles of face masks, basic protective clothes and uniform bags.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Mental health</h2>
<p>Despite being in a high-risk environment, most of our correspondents are not particularly worried about COVID-19. Since they have little control over their environment, they have adopted a rather fatalistic attitude. “I’m not concerned about my health, no point worrying until I have it”, one writes. </p>
<p>Others prefer life under lockdown. “I love this lockdown, no one upsets me as don’t see many people at all”, says another. </p>
<p>The main issue for our correspondents is that the lockdown has reduced access to medical services, including mental health care and support for their transition. Those who have already been prescribed hormone-replacement therapy are receiving their medication in prison. Yet, continuing prescription requires blood tests that have been on hold, and so medication such as testosterone blockers have been administered by injection. Appointments at gender identity clinics are also on hold.</p>
<p>“I was meant to start on T-blockers, but that hasn’t happened yet”, a participant writes. “I guess as it’s not critical it goes on the back burner. It’s not good for my mental state, but I’ve waited eight years so a little longer won’t hurt …”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340990/original/file-20200610-34696-hk6ter.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340990/original/file-20200610-34696-hk6ter.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340990/original/file-20200610-34696-hk6ter.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340990/original/file-20200610-34696-hk6ter.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340990/original/file-20200610-34696-hk6ter.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340990/original/file-20200610-34696-hk6ter.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340990/original/file-20200610-34696-hk6ter.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Trans and non-binary prisoners were isolated even before the pandemic began.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/light-skylight-into-common-area-abandoned-1085613473">karenfoleyphotography/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Generally, the people who are part of this research believe that their prisons are managing well, “all things considered”. Some prisoners mentioned how prison staff and governors had been going above and beyond to support prisoners and alleviate their hardships.</p>
<h2>Isolated before and after coronavirus</h2>
<p>Despite COVID-19 changes leading to long periods locked up in their cells, our participants thus far have not experienced this in a negative way, and many have positive experiences of lockdown. </p>
<p>This shows two things: first, it says that our participants are resilient to testing circumstances; second, it hints at the social isolation that some of our participants already experience in prison. </p>
<p>This is clear in one particular account of life during COVID-19 compared to life before it:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’m used to being isolated so this lockdown doesn’t bother me … I normally retreat and isolate myself in my cell to manage stress and anxiety so being locked up 23 hours a day is fine for me. My cell is my only safe space.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This is important to understand because while the restrictions and social isolation for most prisoners will ease as the pandemic progresses, the isolation that our participants experience will not disappear unless wider structural changes are made to ensure that prisons become a more inclusive environment for transgender and non-binary people.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>The research team would like to acknowledge and thank the participants, whose letters were used to prepare this article: Jerika Ramone, Hotaru, Rachel, Winter Rose, Wildgoose, Sharron, Brittany, Jess Kelly, and Amelia (all pseudonyms).</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/140503/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The research team have received, and gratefully acknowledge, the funding in the amount of £5,038 from the Leicester Institute for Advanced Studies (LIAS) COVID-19 Urgent Response Fund for letter transcription, research assistance, and postal charges associated with this project.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Olga Suhomlinova and the research team (which included Michelle O'reilly) have received, and gratefully acknowledge, the funding in the amount of £5,038 from the Leicester Institute for Advanced Studies (LIAS) COVID-19 Urgent Response Fund for letter transcription, research assistance, and postal charges associated with this project</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Olga Suhomlinova and the research team have received, and gratefully acknowledge, the funding in the amount of £5,038 from the Leicester Institute for Advanced Studies (LIAS) COVID-19 Urgent Response Fund for letter transcription, research assistance, and postal charges associated with this project.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Saoirse O'Shea and the research team have received, and gratefully acknowledge, the funding in the amount of £5,038 from the Leicester Institute for Advanced Studies (LIAS) COVID-19 Urgent Response Fund for letter transcription, research assistance, and postal charges associated with this project.</span></em></p>We have been writing to trans and non-binary prisoners in the UK since before the pandemic began. This is what they say about lockdown.Tammy Ayres, Lecturer in Criminology, University of LeicesterMatthew Tonkin, Associate Professor of Criminology, University of LeicesterMichelle O'Reilly, Associate Professor of Communication in Mental Health, University of LeicesterOlga Suhomlinova, Associate Professor in Management, University of LeicesterSaoirse O'Shea, Senior Lecturer in Organisational Theory, Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University, NewcastleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1365632020-04-20T11:10:16Z2020-04-20T11:10:16ZCoronavirus: why swathes of prisoners are being released in the world’s most punitive states<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/328649/original/file-20200417-152567-1ohmck9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/barbed-wire-prison-fence-1089146540">Shutterstock/alexfan32</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Prisons and contagious diseases are a deadly combination. Unhygienic and overcrowded, they easily become death traps. The 18th-century penal reformer, politician and philanthropist <a href="https://howardleague.org/john-howard/">John Howard</a> spent much of his life <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-State-of-the-Prisons-in-England-and-Wales">travelling to visit jails</a>. He found, in particular in the UK, many disease-ridden prisons. </p>
<p>The dreaded jail fever, <a href="https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/typhus/">typhus</a> (spread by lice, fleas and mites), was rampant and could decimate prison populations in a short space of time. In the end, it was Howard himself. He contracted typhus during a prison visit in present-day Ukraine and died there shortly after, in January 1790. </p>
<p>Fast forward to 2020. Prisons are perhaps becoming hotbeds of the pandemic, as closed environments with little privacy and usually very little chance of social distancing. In March there were reports of prison disturbances in <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/coronavirus-italy-prison-riots-death-toll-modena-foggia-alfonso-bonafede-a9396311.html">Italy</a> from inmates fearing they could be at increased risk of becoming infected. </p>
<p>There were also riots and mass escapes in other countries <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/17/come-back-monday-ok-hundreds-of-prisoners-escape-in-brazil-amid-covid-19-anger">including Brazil</a>, where coronavirus was referred to by Renato Lima, director-president of the Brazilian Public Security Forum, as a “time bomb”. Lima highlighted overcrowding, a lack of a health facilities and the large number of older prisoners as specific risk factors. This was in early March and by then it was becoming clear that prisons globally were going to face a huge infection and contagion risk.</p>
<p>Yet many other prison systems seemed to almost view the situation as business as usual. In the <a href="https://nieuws.nl/algemeen/20200313/geen-bezoek-en-verlof-meer-voor-gevangenen-om-coronavirus/">Netherlands</a>, measures were announced on March 13 which amounted to nothing more than a ban on visitors and on prisoners being granted day release. Other prisons systems undertook things even more gradually. For example, <a href="https://www.hln.be/nieuws/binnenland/eerste-coronabesmetting-vastgesteld-in-belgische-gevangenis%7Ea8b6bcea/?referer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F">in Belgium</a> visits were limited to one visitor per prisoner on March 12, with a complete ban on visitors being imposed the following week. The same lacklustre approach was also seen in the <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/03/czechs-close-borders-march-16-coronavirus-spread-200313115117376.html">Czech Republic</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/mar/26/coronavirus-is-a-ticking-time-bomb-for-the-australian-prison-system">Australia</a> and <a href="https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/jge4yy/canadas-prisons-are-a-coronavirus-time-bomb-say-guards-and-inmates">Canada</a>. </p>
<p>Such measures were never likely to keep the virus out for long. And once inside, more radical measures were going to be needed to avoid prison sentences becoming death sentences by stealth and exposing those who work in prisons to unacceptable risk. In contrast, something quite remarkable was starting to happen in countries that suffered a peak of the virus relatively early – and that are not exactly known for their luxurious prison conditions or their liberal approach to imprisonment.</p>
<h2>Iran and Turkey</h2>
<p>Iran has <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/middle-east-and-north-africa/iran/report-iran/">horrific</a> prison conditions. It has a huge system with around <a href="https://www.prisonstudies.org/country/iran">240,000 prisoners</a> held in jails designed for about 150,000. Overcrowding is the norm. On March 3 it was announced that Iran was set to temporarily release some <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-51723398">54,000 prisoners</a>, amounting to about 22% of the prison population.</p>
<p>This was a huge step in a country where imprisonment is <a href="https://www.prisonpolicy.org/global/2018.html">heavily used</a>. Subsequently the number of released prisoners was revised up to <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/03/hard-hit-iran-frees-prisoners-coronavirus-outbreak-200317110516495.html">85,000</a>, or 35% of the original total number of prisoners. This came to include British-Iranian charity worker <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51937629">Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe</a>. She received an ankle bracelet and was ordered to stay in the home of relatives. In all, it appears nearly 100,000 prisoners may have left Iranian prisons early. </p>
<p>A similar situation emerged in Turkey in late March with a proposal to <a href="https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-health-coronavirus-turkey-prisoners/turkey-set-to-release-some-45000-inmates-in-coronavirus-response-idUKKBN21I2DS">free 45,000 prisoners</a> temporarily. The bill became law on April 13. A separate bill is set to pass to free another 45,000 prisoners permanently. Turkey’s prisoner population in 2019 was around <a href="https://www.prisonstudies.org/country/turkey">286,000</a>, many of whom were political prisoners. A reduction of 90,000 would mean a reduction of 31%. This is massive but at the same time it must be noted that political prisoners would not be eligible for release. It highlights the intense political nature of imprisonment in a country where conditions historically are <a href="https://ahvalnews.com/human-rights/torture-ill-treatment-has-become-norm-turkish-prisons">inhumane</a> and overcrowded.</p>
<p>On a smaller, but still significant scale, in Ethiopia <a href="http://africabuzzfeed.com/in-ethiopia-more-than-4000-prisoners-to-be-released-for-fear-of-coronavirus/">4,011 prisoners</a> were pardoned and released on March 13. Some 10,000 have been released from prisons <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-afghanistan-prison/afghanistan-to-release-10000-prisoners-to-slow-spread-of-coronavirus-idUSKBN21D334">in Afghanistan</a>, whereas prisoner releases, albeit on a much smaller scale, occurred across the United States, in states like <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/06/california-prisons-older-inmates-coronavirus">California</a>. <a href="https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/257267-list-countries-release-prisoners-over-coronavirus-fears">Other countries</a> following this early release plan include India, Indonesia and Morroco.</p>
<h2>UK prisons</h2>
<p>The UK’s approach has been decidedly mixed. The Prison Inspectorate <a href="https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprisons/2020/03/covid-19-update/">announced</a> that it was ceasing inspections on March 17 and by the end of the month it was announced that pregnant women prisoners would be up for <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/03/31/70-pregnant-women-mothers-released-prison-early-combat-coronavirus/">early release</a>. There is news of prisoners <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52165919">self-isolating</a> and of increasing the number of prisoners in <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/measures-announced-to-protect-nhs-from-coronavirus-risk-in-prisons">single cells</a>. At the same time, due to inactivity in criminal courts the flow of new prisoners has been reduced. The prison is also slowly going down through “normal” release processes. So, slowly but surely, almost by stealth, the prison rate is reducing in the UK.</p>
<p>Initially, the intention was to have some 4,000 prisoners leave prison early (which is <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/prison-population-figures-2019">approaching</a> one in 20). Yet the reality is more messy than that, with issues over the availability of electronic tags, the need for risk assessments and community supervision arrangements. It was mentioned in the <a href="https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/102/justice-committee/news/145895/impact-of-covid19-coronavirus-on-the-probation-system-examined/">Commons Justice Committee</a> that no more than 18 prisoners had been released under these plans. That is a pitiful number that will do nothing to avert a major health emergency in UK prisons, which has already seen two prison officers die after getting <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/04/two-workers-at-londons-pentonville-prison-die-from-covid-19">COVID-19 symptoms</a>. This process now seems to have been halted and there is a lack of clarity around the whole issue.</p>
<p>The UK’s next move runs counter to global trends: rather than upscaling release, the system is in fact set to increase capacity. It has been reported that perhaps as many as <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/04/14/2000-extra-temporary-prison-cells-built-avert-early-release/">2,000 makeshift cells</a> are being created to facilitate social distancing in prisons. In doing so, the UK’s approach is to more doggedly resist mass release than some of the world’s most punitive states.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/136563/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Francis Pakes does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Iran and Turkey have released large numbers of prisoners. Should other countries follow suit?Francis Pakes, Professor of Criminology, University of PortsmouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1341062020-03-20T14:06:01Z2020-03-20T14:06:01ZCoronavirus: why prison conditions can be a perfect storm for spreading disease<p>The coronavirus pandemic presents one of most pressing public health challenges in a generation. <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-the-uk-approach-explained-133672">The UK government approach</a> is to limit the number of people who have the virus at any one time and protect the most vulnerable by decreasing the rate of transmission through hand washing and social distancing. But what happens when it is just about impossible to socially distance and you’re in a highly vulnerable group?</p>
<p>Prison environments can create a perfect storm for spreading disease. Inmates often live in unsanitary, <a href="https://howardleague.org/prisons-information/prison-watch/">overcrowded</a> conditions with <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/oct/27/prisoners-dying-poor-care-services-prisons-mental-health-care-quality-commission-report">limited access to healthcare</a>.
In all countries, it is people from the <a href="http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/249188/Prisons-and-Health.pdf">poorest and most marginalised</a> sections of the population who make up the bulk of those serving prison sentences. And many of them <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(16)30466-4/fulltext">have diseases</a> such as tuberculosis, sexually transmitted infections and HIV/AIDS. </p>
<p>Incidence of these diseases in prisons is much higher than in the general population. And older prisoners over 60 are the <a href="http://www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/Portals/0/Documents/Bromley%20Briefings/Winter%202019%20Factfile%20web.pdf">fastest growing group in prisons</a>. This is particularly concerning since death rates from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) are highest in this group.</p>
<p>At the time of writing, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/18/first-uk-prisoner-with-covid-19-confirmed-at-strangeways-manchester">the first case of COVID-19 in a British prisoner</a> has been confirmed at Strangeways prison in Manchester. A member of <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/coronavirus-prison-officer-highdown-hmp-surrey-test-positive-a9404931.html">prison staff has also tested positive</a> for COVID-19 in another prison. Other staff and prisoners have been placed in isolation as a precaution. </p>
<h2>‘Hard to keep clean’</h2>
<p>Clearly concerns of a wider outbreak of COVID-19 in prisons are valid, particularly given that prisoners enter custodial settings with a range of complex health needs. But prisons also expose them to further risks. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1353829218303514">Our research</a> in a prison for young people shows the herculean task placed on prisoners to maintain their physical and mental health in overcrowded, unhygienic and confining conditions. </p>
<p>Even prior to the pandemic, young men in prison told us about the difficulties they faced in maintaining their personal hygiene and accessing appropriate materials and equipment to keep themselves and their environment clean. They said there was a lack of accessible health information. And much of what existed was in written format, despite many prisoner experiencing <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/36000/12-p168-2011-skills-for-life-survey.pdf">difficulties with literacy</a>. Overall, 72% of prisoners in our wider prison survey reported difficulties gaining access to information and services to help them maintain good health while in prison. </p>
<p>Our participants also spoke about the long periods of time locked away in their cell – sometimes shared with other prisoners – with some locked away for up to 22 hours a day. Our research found that this boredom often leads to stress and anger, as well as heightened health fears relating to contracting illnesses and the fear of dying alone in a prison cell. </p>
<p>We also found that access to emotional support was severely limited with restricted times available to contact friends and family. With heightened mistrust among prisoners, for many there was no one to turn to about concerns. While some might expect this of prison conditions, such social disconnection could, during a pandemic, increase stress and anxiety in ways that significantly damage prisoners’ health.</p>
<h2>Protecting prisoners</h2>
<p>Much of the difficulties seem to be down to broader structural constraints placed on prisoners. By the nature of their imprisonment, prisoners cannot plan or make decisions for themselves yet remain at most risk of infections and poorer health. </p>
<p>The Howard League for Penal Reform, a leading UK prison charity, has <a href="https://howardleague.org/blog/covid-19-measures-that-could-be-considered/">written</a> to the Ministry of Justice demanding precautions are taken to protect people in prison –- and thereby the wider population – from COVID-19. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/coronavirus-covid-19-prison-preparedness-lucy-frazer-statement">response</a>, prisons minister Lucy Frazer stated that good practice is being promoted on posters and that handwashing facilitates are available to all prisoners. Frazer also said that guidance has been issued about visits to prisons and that contingency plans are in place to protect staff and prisoners alike. </p>
<h2>Urgent action needed</h2>
<p>But it’s clear that urgent action is required to support and alleviate the concerns of prisoners and their families. Concerns around COVID-19 are even more stark considering that three Chinese provinces registered <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/500-coronavirus-cases-reported-in-jails-in-china-2020-2?r=US&IR=T">more than 500 cases</a> in prisons. In Italy, <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/coronavirus-italy-prison-riots-death-toll-modena-foggia-alfonso-bonafede-a9396311.html">riots are reported</a> to have occurred in at least two dozen prisons after visits were stopped. In one prison at least 12 inmates died after they broke into a healthcare unit and overdosed on methadone. </p>
<p>We need a comprehensive plan from government and health authorities. This must include the ability to quickly detect and isolate cases and the introduction of improved hand washing facilities, stepped up cleaning regimes and personal hygiene protocols. </p>
<p>There should also be a clear and transparent flow of information to manage heightened anxieties. And particular focus on continued contact with family and friends outside of prison using virtual approaches, increasing credit on phone cards and better access to telephones. </p>
<p>Prisoners must also be encouraged to manage their wellbeing through cell based activities such as workouts, education opportunities and access to entertainment and hobbies. There may also be a case for reducing the prison population, which currently stands at around 84,000. </p>
<p>Releasing low category prisoners would free up capacity in what might be a period of staff shortages and increased cases. Iran has already taken this step to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-covid-19-iran-releases-eighty-five-thousand-prisoners-2020-3?r=US&IR=T">temporarily free about 85,000 prisoners</a> in an effort to combat the spread of COVID-19. </p>
<p>Prisons must not be forgotten during this epidemic. It’s also important to remember that staff come and go from these establishments and that most prisoners will be released at some point and will come back into society. Prisoner health and wellbeing cannot be seen as separate from our own.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/134106/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anita Mehay has received funding from the Economic and Social Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jane Ogden has received funding from the Economic and Social Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rosie Meek has received funding from the Economic and Social Research Council.</span></em></p>Prisons are already a hotbed of disease, and without action COVID-19 could have catastrophic consequences behind bars.Anita Mehay, Research Fellow and Health Psychologist, UCLJane Ogden, Professor of Health Psychology, University of SurreyRosie Meek, Professor of Criminology & Psychology, Royal Holloway University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1230612019-10-04T13:03:09Z2019-10-04T13:03:09ZThe ethics and practicalities of dealing with prisoners who are growing old and dying in custody<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295465/original/file-20191003-52796-g1do66.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C12%2C4031%2C3005&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Locked up for life?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">photocritical/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It may surprise you to learn that there are prisoners in the UK who are now into their 70s, 80s and 90s. There is <a href="http://www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/Portals/0/Documents/Bromley%20Briefings/Prison%20the%20facts%20Summer%202019.pdf">even one aged over 100</a>. The “tough on crime” policies of recent decades have resulted in harsher sentences and reduced opportunities for early release, which means that offenders now spend longer in prison than they would have done previously for the same crimes. Across the world, the number of incarcerated people is steadily increasing and <a href="https://www.prisonstudies.org/sites/default/files/resources/downloads/wppl_12.pdf">now stands at around 11m</a>, even though in most societies <a href="https://www.prison-insider.com/en/ressources/analyses/rapports/tendances-mondiales-de-l-incarceration-2018">levels of crime are actually falling</a>.</p>
<p>As sentences grow longer there are more people growing old in prison. In England and Wales, the <a href="http://www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/Portals/0/Documents/Bromley%20Briefings/Prison%20the%20facts%20Summer%202019.pdf">number of prisoners aged over 60</a> is rising faster than any other age group, and <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/735428/prison-population-projections-2018-2023.PDF">government projections</a> are that this trend will continue into the foreseeable future. </p>
<p>The Prison Reform Trust has identified <a href="http://www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/Portals/0/Documents/Bromley%20Briefings/Autumn%202018%20Factfile.pdf">four distinct groups of older prisoners</a>. These are repeat prisoners, those who are in out of prison for less serious offences and who find themselves in prison when older; those who have grown old in prison who were handed a long sentence before the age of 50; first-time offenders given a short prison sentence; and first-time older prisoners given a long sentence. </p>
<p>A specific issue with this population (particularly the first-time older prisoners) is the <a href="http://www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/Portals/0/Documents/Bromley%20Briefings/Autumn%202018%20Factfile.pdf">nature of their offences</a>: 45% of male prisoners aged 50 and over are convicted sex offenders, and this number rises to 87% of the over 80s. Sex offenders are amongst the most vilified of prisoners, particularly those who have offended against children. In prison they are often contrasted with “ODCs” – “ordinary decent criminals” – who while they might be burglars or drug dealers are viewed as having at least some sort of moral decency. So it’s not surprising that older prisoners in general and sex offenders in particular elicit little public sympathy, even when they are approaching the end of their lives in custody. </p>
<p>However, HM Prison and Probation Service faces an increasing challenge to provide appropriate and safe custody for older prisoners. My research has shown <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953618303654">high levels of frailty and vulnerability</a> in the older prisoner population, including multiple complex health and social care needs, and challenges associated with having to take multiple medicines regularly. Many prisons are simply <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/jun/20/prisons-taking-role-of-care-homes-and-hospices-as-older-population-soars">not suitable for old, frail people</a>, and the equipment and resources needed to care for them are often not available. Prison staff with responsibility for older prisoners need adequate training and support, particularly when dealing with deaths in custody. </p>
<h2>Justice and security</h2>
<p>Ageing and dying in prison poses important questions about ethics and justice. Like it or not, sex offenders have human rights. The United Nations General Assembly has endorsed a set of standard minimum rules for the treatment of prisoners, known as <a href="https://undocs.org/A/RES/70/175">The Nelson Mandela Rules</a>, which includes rules governing healthcare. Rule 24 states: “Prisoners should enjoy the same standards of health care that are available in the community, and should have access to necessary health-care services free of charge without discrimination on the grounds of their legal status.” </p>
<p>The <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/136431/End_of_life_strategy.pdf">End of Life Care Strategy for England and Wales</a> also states clearly that all people approaching the end of life should be able to access high quality care, regardless of who or where they might be. So the prison service has a duty to provide adequate and equivalent care to those dying in prison. </p>
<p>What sort of solutions are available? It’s clear that either the numbers of older prisoners need to be reduced, or far greater resources need to be provided to keep them in custody. Reducing the number of older prisoners would entail using alternatives to custodial sentences, shorter sentences, or releasing more of them on compassionate grounds near the end of their lives. But there are undoubtedly some prisoners who would re-offend if released, so this would require a careful case-by-case assessments. Inevitably, sometimes the decision would be wrong. </p>
<p>On the other hand, if society decides to continue to imprison increasing numbers of older people, then adequate facilities – <a href="https://insidetime.org/could-elderly-prisoners-move-into-secure-care-homes/">secure care homes</a>, for example – need to be built, urgently.</p>
<p>In 2013 the House of Commons Justice Committee <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-committees/Justice/Older-prisoners.pdf">stated</a> that the needs of older prisoners were “distinct from the rest of the prison population”. It recommended that the growing older prisoner population required a national strategy “to remove inequity of provision and maintain minimum standards”. Six years on, there is little sign of such a strategy, and prisons and prison staff must still try and cope with the challenge in an unplanned and under-resourced basis.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/123061/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mary Turner has received research funding from the Marie Curie Research Grants Scheme, grant C39165/A15606. </span></em></p>More inmates are growing old and dying in prison, and the system is not designed to cope.Mary Turner, Reader in Health Services Research, University of HuddersfieldLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1209222019-07-30T11:39:10Z2019-07-30T11:39:10ZThe problem with women’s prisons – and why they do more harm than good<p>Sending women to prison, and removing them from their children and families, has long been seen as a contentious issue. Particularly given that women are <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/719819/female-offender-strategy.pdf">predominately nonviolent offenders</a> and tend to commit “victimless crimes” – such as theft – that are often survival based.</p>
<p>In England and Wales, the <a href="http://www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/Portals/0/Documents/transforming%20lives.pdf">Prison Reform Trust</a> and campaign group <a href="https://www.womeninprison.org.uk/news-and-campaigns.php?s=2017-04-06-2020-by-2020">Women in Prison</a>, are calling for the decarceration of women. Yet at the same time, Northern Ireland has seen a <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-49066952">recent increase in female prisoners</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.justice-ni.gov.uk/articles/weekly-situation-reports-october-2015#toc-1">The weekly population</a> of women imprisoned in the Ash House unit at Hydebank Wood, the only women’s prison in Northern Ireland, recently <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-49066952">peaked at 84 inmates</a>. This is significantly over capacity. To put this into context there were 57 women in the unit (on average) between <a href="https://www.justice-ni.gov.uk/sites/default/files/publications/justice/Northern%20Ireland%20Prison%20Population%202017_18.pdf">2017 to 2018</a>. And while it’s common for spikes to occur in numbers of women imprisoned, a rise to over 80 is the highest recorded. </p>
<p>In 2018 <a href="https://www.justice-ni.gov.uk/sites/default/files/publications/justice/Northern%20Ireland%20Prison%20Population%202017_18.pdf">69% of women imprisoned</a> in Northern Ireland were sentenced to six months or less, while 29% were sentenced to three months or less.
These sentence lengths are an ineffectual use of justice and have a <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/women-prison-sentences-short-jailed-periods-less-month-inmates-minor-offences-children-labour-a8124896.html">destructive impact</a> on women and their children. Indeed, in England and Wales, the justice secretary, David Gauke, has called for <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/06/04/david-gauke-go-ahead-plans-abolish-jail-sentences-six-months/">sentences below six months to be scrapped</a>.</p>
<h2>A stopgap</h2>
<p>Some 58% of women sent to prison in Northern Ireland in 2018 were what’s known as “remand prisoners”. This is when prisoners have been arrested and charged with an offence and they must wait in prison until their trial.</p>
<p><a href="https://pure.qub.ac.uk/portal/files/172196784/Policy_Briefing_2.pdf">My research</a> has found that in many instances, women are not remanded into custody because they commit a serious crime, but instead because of issues relating to marginality and vulnerability. I found that many women are being arrested and remanded to prison for issues around mental health crisis, suicide, alcohol use and homelessness. </p>
<p>I spoke to women who were arrested when they were in suicidal crisis. They spoke of damaging police cars or assaulting police officers due to their distress. On some occasions these women were remanded to custody not because their charges demanded a custodial sentence, but so that they could receive psychiatric assessment, or wait for transfer to a psychiatric bed. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/286067/original/file-20190729-43130-a0qwxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/286067/original/file-20190729-43130-a0qwxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/286067/original/file-20190729-43130-a0qwxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/286067/original/file-20190729-43130-a0qwxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/286067/original/file-20190729-43130-a0qwxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/286067/original/file-20190729-43130-a0qwxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/286067/original/file-20190729-43130-a0qwxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Women’s prisons can make a bad situation worse.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>In this way, women’s prisons have become stopgaps, a place to simply put people society does does not have alternative resources to deal with. Indeed, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/jul/03/number-female-prisoners-recorded-homeless-doubles-since-2015">recent figures</a> for England and Wales show that the number of women recorded as homeless when they enter prison has nearly doubled since 2015. This leads to an unacceptable use of prison as a place of “safety” and “containment” for women, despite the harms that prison produces. Prison is not the best place for women to receive support and it <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-37781010">doesn’t always mean they are safe</a>. And this issue is impacted by gaps in community supports. </p>
<h2>Poverty and mental illness</h2>
<p>I recently delivered a <a href="https://pure.qub.ac.uk/portal/files/172196784/Policy_Briefing_2.pdf">policy briefing</a> at the Northern Ireland Prison Service, suggesting that women be diverted from custody urgently. The Department of Justice has since stated the number of women in custody is a “significant issue” and that they aim to reduce ‘offending’ among women. </p>
<p>While this is good news, efforts to reduce the number of women in prison must also include diversion from arrest. This is important because police responding to women in crisis <a href="https://pure.qub.ac.uk/portal/files/172196784/Policy_Briefing_2.pdf">can often escalate issues</a> when there are other factors such as drink and drugs involved. And this can lead to the criminalisation of women who need help and support, rather than punishment. Specifically, more mental health support, addiction support and housing is needed. </p>
<p>Within the rising female prison population, theft accounted for almost <a href="https://www.justice-ni.gov.uk/sites/default/files/publications/justice/Northern%20Ireland%20Prison%20Population%202017_18.pdf">30% of women’s offences</a> in Northern Ireland in 2018, an increase over the previous two years. This raises questions about the possible effect of austerity upon women and the looming potential impact of the “<a href="https://www.housingrights.org.uk/news/time-running-out-welfare-reform-mitigations">cliff edge</a>” of universal credit.</p>
<p>These shortfalls in housing, mental health support and detox services also impact court decision making. Lack of gender appropriate hostel accommodation, inadequate community mental health support and gaps in social care provision can lead to women being imprisoned unnecessarily as there is no where else for the courts to send them – further impacting fragile lives and harming the next generation of children.</p>
<p>While in Northern Ireland <a href="https://www.justice-ni.gov.uk/sites/default/files/publications/justice/Northern%20Ireland%20Prison%20Population%202017_18.pdf">the number of males</a> being sent to custody has <a href="https://www.economist.com/britain/2019/04/06/why-are-northern-irelands-prisons-so-empty">dropped</a>, due to the increased use of <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/735428/prison-population-projections-2018-2023.PDF">home detention curfews</a>, decreases in remand and declines in numbers of offenders sentenced – the women’s imprisonment rate continues to rise. </p>
<p>It is imperative that the Department of Justice address this inconsistency. This is particularly pressing at a time when the Northern Ireland Prison Service is developing a new estate strategy for imprisoning women. Methods to divert the number of vulnerable women being arrested and processed through the court system must be introduced. Otherwise, increased prison capacity only holds the promise of punishing and containing increasing levels of marginalised women.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/120922/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gillian McNaull has received funding from the Department of Employment and Learning, NI. She sits on the executive committee of NIACRO and is the co-director of the Gender Network at Queens University Belfast. She is also a volunteer with the Larne House Visitor Group.</span></em></p>Women’s prisons have become stopgaps, a place to simply put people society does not know what else to do with.Gillian McNaull, Lecturer in Criminology, Queen's University BelfastLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1165642019-06-05T09:39:39Z2019-06-05T09:39:39ZWhat I’ve learned from teaching prisoners to think like scientists<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277245/original/file-20190530-69055-13ugrb5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jurik Pete/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It takes a while to get used to the constant locking of doors as you stop-start your way along a prison corridor. Walking through the main hall in HMP Low Newton, a women’s prison in County Durham, my flustered mind raced to try and maintain a normal conversation with my hosts. I’m a geophysicist, used to looking at shifts in the Earth’s plates, but I was there to start teaching a course called <a href="https://philheron.com/think-like-a-scientist/">Think Like A Scientist</a>. </p>
<p>Working alongside Durham University, the prison, and a host of prison educators, the aim of the course, which ran for seven weeks between January and March 2019, was to teach understanding, analysis, and communication – the building blocks of being a scientist. </p>
<p>Across the UK, there are far fewer science education programmes behind bars than there are humanities programmes. This scarcity of science programmes doesn’t appear to because of a lack of demand, but rather is down to the challenges of teaching in such a restrictive environment. There are no bunsen burners or microscopes available – the only teaching tools are often a paper flip chart and print outs.</p>
<p>Still, there are some great examples of other programmes, from the pioneering <a href="https://news.st-andrews.ac.uk/archive/cell-block-science/">Cell Block Science</a> and <a href="https://www.code4000.org/en">Code4000</a>, which teaches coding to inmates, to the Royal Astronomical Society’s <a href="http://ras200.org/bounce-back-foundation/">Beyond Prison Walls</a>.</p>
<h2>A scientific mind</h2>
<p>In my course, the students learned about a different topic each week during a two-hour long class. Topics ranged from the science of sleep, climate change, geoscience, space missions, the universe, and artificial intelligence. Instead of focusing on gaining knowledge that we can test them on, the students are guided to “think like a scientist” – in particular, to see where the limits of humanity’s understanding are and to pick apart issues surrounding research. </p>
<p>We try to stay away from traditional classroom settings as many of the students have negative connections with their early learning in high school. At HMP Low Newton, the students gathered in a communal room with sofas centred around a flip chart. We focused on three pillars of being a scientist: understanding research; analysis of what we know, what we don’t know, and what we need to know; and how to communicate findings.</p>
<p>The information presented is mainly given in the style of <a href="https://www.ted.com/about/our-organization">TED talks</a> and podcasts: 15-minute segments of science which are accessible and have a narrative. These short bursts of information form the students’ understanding of a subject.</p>
<p>The students are then taught how to analyse by dissecting articles from The Conversation, such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-children-who-sleep-more-get-better-grades-51828">why children who sleep more get better grades</a>, guided by questions including “What are the authors missing?” and “What else would you like to know?” By promoting their own voice and opinions, the students begin to find their feet and start thinking like a scientist. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/276099/original/file-20190523-187157-17utd7w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/276099/original/file-20190523-187157-17utd7w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276099/original/file-20190523-187157-17utd7w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276099/original/file-20190523-187157-17utd7w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276099/original/file-20190523-187157-17utd7w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276099/original/file-20190523-187157-17utd7w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276099/original/file-20190523-187157-17utd7w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Using sleep to teach science.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/confirm/1126189466?src=1nOChI1UfTdNH-ypcfKuDA-4-36&size=medium_jpg">fizkes/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But a proper science class needs an experiment. During the course, the students kept a sleep diary for three weeks – monitoring the amount of sleep they get, their mood and energy levels. By collating and anonymising the diaries, the class then used this new research to find out whether there was a correlation between how much a person sleeps and their energy or mood. In true peer review style, the students heavily criticised the experiment, indicating that three weeks of data from a narrow band of the population was insufficient for a rigorous analysis. </p>
<h2>Boosting understanding</h2>
<p>At HMP Low Newton, the desire to learn and improve was apparent from the students in every session, and it was a joy to teach. They all wanted to learn more about <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/07/20/the-really-big-one">earthquakes</a>, <a href="http://theconversation.com/explainer-what-are-gravitational-waves-53239">black holes</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/dear-diary-another-day-in-the-life-on-mars-75929">missions to Mars</a>. </p>
<p>The goal is to provide a pathway to <a href="https://journalistsresource.org/studies/government/criminal-justice/effects-prison-education-programs-research-findings/">further learning</a> opportunities for those in prison. Employment is an <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/217412/impact-employment-reoffending.pdf">important factor of reoffending rates</a> and so the hope is that future courses will link up with science and technology companies who can offer guidance on employment opportunities upon release. </p>
<p>From teaching in prison, I’ve learned that we can teach anywhere people want to be taught. There are difficulties in any classroom, but these are problems that can be overcome through careful listening and collaboration. </p>
<p>I am now working to run the course in a couple of other prisons, which will no doubt have other obstacles to clear. But by participating in discussions on the hot scientific topics of the day, Think Like A Scientist students can build confidence in their academic ability – and hopefully unlock doors to a future in education.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/116564/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Philip Heron receives funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 749664. </span></em></p>Covering subjects from black holes to sleep science, a geophysicist explains his new course.Philip Heron, Marie Skłodowska Curie Research Fellow in Geodynamics, Durham UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1099892019-02-06T10:36:18Z2019-02-06T10:36:18ZPrisons and asylums prove architecture can build up or break down a person’s mental health<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/257249/original/file-20190205-86213-15czned.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=158%2C340%2C2751%2C1546&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/empty-ward-withs-beds-curtains-abandoned-1289966974">Shutterstock.</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Anyone who has witnessed conditions in the UK’s prisons – whether <a href="https://www.channel4.com/programmes/prison/episode-guide">on television</a> or in person – could not fail to be alarmed by the violence, despair and mental distress experienced by staff and prisoners. In the current chaos of the prison environment, caused in part by <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/number-of-prison-officers-resigning-from-post-soars-amid-soaring-levels-of-violence-and-selfharm-a8427616.html">staff recruitment and retention problems</a>, growing numbers of prisoners are using illegal drugs to self-medicate – often with appalling consequences for their mental health. </p>
<p>Self-harm and suicide rates are also <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/prisons-self-harm-assaults-2018-england-wales-justice-mental-health-care-support-a8755786.html">on the rise</a>, with the latter reaching a record high of 52,814 incidents in 2018; a 23% increase from 2017. While many prisoners enter custody with serious mental health needs, there is evidence from <a href="https://www.corrections.govt.nz/resources/research_and_statistics/journal/volume_5_issue_1_july_2017/new_zealand_prisoners_prior_exposure_to_trauma.html">research</a> that being in prison can exacerbate experiences of trauma and mental illness, and bring on a profound <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/titles/8390.html">pain of imprisonment</a>.</p>
<p>But it doesn’t have to be this way. As the UK government <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/mar/22/four-supersized-prisons-to-be-built-england-and-wales-elizabeth-truss-plan">plans to open four new prisons</a> by 2020-21, it’s worth remembering how great an impact the architecture of such institutions can have on the mental health of inmates. Building design can offer therapeutic benefits for both psychiatric in-patients and prisoners. Or, it can result in vulnerable people – including those with severe mental illness – being held in custody, rather than receiving high quality, community-based care. </p>
<h2>An intertwined history with the asylum</h2>
<p>Our research explores the <a href="https://www.palgrave.com/gb/book/9783319940892">intertwined histories</a> of asylums and penitentiaries. Today, asylums are viewed with horror, due to the <a href="https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009801485">barbaric practices</a> employed there from the 18th to the 20th century. Over time, physical constraints such as leg irons and straitjackets gave way to more sophisticated (not to say alarming) medical practices. </p>
<p>Insulin coma therapy was used in asylums in the 1930s and 1940s for treating schizophrenia – the rationale being that a deep coma would “fry” the disease. As late as the 1970s, in Britain, inmates of asylums could be regularly drugged with sedatives known as “liquid cosh” or subjected to lobotomies or electroconvulsive therapy. </p>
<p>Yet from the early decades of the 19th century, many asylums were purpose built and architecturally designed to aid mental recovery. Today, many imagine they were built on the edges of major towns and cities to emphasise the marginal status of patients. But in fact, their location and built environment was based on an intention to reintroduce recovered patients back into society, and initially, patients were <a href="https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/victorian-mental-asylum">observed to make progress</a>. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/257235/original/file-20190205-86210-lh8n77.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/257235/original/file-20190205-86210-lh8n77.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257235/original/file-20190205-86210-lh8n77.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257235/original/file-20190205-86210-lh8n77.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257235/original/file-20190205-86210-lh8n77.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257235/original/file-20190205-86210-lh8n77.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257235/original/file-20190205-86210-lh8n77.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Patients at the Broadmoor Asylum for Criminal Lunatics, mid-19th century.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://wellcomecollection.org/works/y7jdm89e">Wellcome Collection.</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While some had high walls and locked doors to wards, many more were built with spatial therapy in mind: fresh air, cultivated lawns and leafy walkways around the perimeter were used to promote calmness and reflection. Patients might enjoy a cricket match with staff, or undertake occupational therapy in the purpose-built farmyard. </p>
<p>But as the 19th century wound to a close, asylums began to take on the punitive, oppressive atmosphere of prisons. A combination of <a href="https://historicengland.org.uk/research/inclusive-heritage/disability-history/1832-1914/the-growth-of-the-asylum/">mass incarceration</a> and a demoralised workforce meant asylums were filled up with “chronic” cases. An aroma of moral censure in the attitudes of staff reflected the asylum’s morally imposing architecture: the bricks and mortar seemed designed to lock inmates in permanently. </p>
<p>This transformation obscured whatever was once therapeutic about such places. No wonder few mourned the passing of these “total institutions” – a memorable phrase used by the sociologist Erving Goffman to reflect the toll they took on a person’s identity. The term <a href="http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100005375">“institutional neurosis”</a> eventually gave a medical name to the problem: these places caused patients to become passive, demotivated and dependent on the staff and structures of the institution.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/257238/original/file-20190205-86233-165nm43.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/257238/original/file-20190205-86233-165nm43.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257238/original/file-20190205-86233-165nm43.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257238/original/file-20190205-86233-165nm43.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257238/original/file-20190205-86233-165nm43.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257238/original/file-20190205-86233-165nm43.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257238/original/file-20190205-86233-165nm43.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">HMP Manchester, formerly Strangeways Prison.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Strangeways-geograph-4634562-by-Peter-McDermott.jpg">Peter McDermott/Wikimedia Commons.</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>From the mid-19th century, the asylum had its dark double in the penitentiary, which <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Crime-in-England-1815-1880-Experiencing-the-criminal-justice-system/Johnston/p/book/9781843929536">caused widespread insanity</a> among both kinds of inmates. Morally imposing architecture, like that found at Broadmoor Hospital (built in 1863) and Manchester Prison (1862), contributed to a sense of imprisonment felt by asylum inmates, and to a sense of madness among prisoners. The decorative Italianate design features of these buildings do little to soften the sense that their towering facades belong to an unenlightened era.</p>
<h2>Future-proofing prisons</h2>
<p>As the UK government contemplates its next phase of prison planning and design, it would do well to consider the self-harming, paranoid and destructive behaviour recorded by the Prison Reform Trust, which <a href="http://www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/WhatWeDo/ProjectsResearch/Mentalhealth">recently found that</a> 25% of women and 15% of men in prison reported symptoms indicative of psychosis (compared to a rate of 4% among the general public) and suicides were 8.6 times more likely in prison than in the general population. </p>
<p>Up to now, the government’s approach to “future-proofing” prison environments – that is, attempting to make them suitable for use up to 50 years in the future – has typically involved ramping up their security to suit an imagined, future group of offenders, who will require greater control of movement and more secure accommodation than current prisoners. </p>
<p>Having a psychiatric disorder <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5008459/">is associated with</a> violence and victimisation in prison, so it seems likely that a focus on providing <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/eprint/TJSBt8yky3xFi6YxsuWW/full">a healthier built environment</a>, rather than a more secure one, would benefit prisoners and staff alike. </p>
<p>Prisoners who are locked in their cells for most of the day <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/oct/11/out-of-control-prison-watchdog-warns-of-synthetic-drug-crisis?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other">can expend their energy</a> by planning how to get contraband into the prison, or <a href="https://www.centreforsocialjustice.org.uk/library/drugs-in-prison">take drugs</a> to pass the time. Surely then, it’s time to take offenders out of the shadow of the asylum, and to rethink “future-proofing” as an opportunity to create spaces for rehabilitation, giving those who have been incarcerated opportunities for a positive future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/109989/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Yvonne Jewkes receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon Cross does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Asylums were once designed to aid mental recovery – perhaps modern prisons should take note.Simon Cross, Senior Lecturer in Media and Culture, Nottingham Trent UniversityYvonne Jewkes, Professor of Criminology, University of BathLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1084452018-12-11T14:21:45Z2018-12-11T14:21:45ZPrison is expensive – worth remembering when we oppose parole<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249787/original/file-20181210-76977-1g298ia.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Neil Lang/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The parole board recently decided to grant the release of <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/david-mcgreavy-child-killer-worcester-monster-prison-jail-release-parole-board-murder-a8667066.html">David McGreavy</a>, who in 1973, aged 21, murdered and mutilated three children and impaled their bodies on railings at their home in which he was a lodger. He was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum tariff of 20 years. As in the case of others who have murdered children, such as Ian Brady and Myra Hindley, McGreavy has served many years past his recommended term, and has been <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hereford-worcester-36623663">repeatedly unsuccessful</a> in his efforts to gain parole. </p>
<p>But now McGreavy has been cleared for release after a 45-year stint in prison. The parole board reported that he has “<a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/12/03/triplechild-killer-david-mcgreavy-cleared-released-parole-board/">changed considerably</a>”, noting improved self-control and an ability to remain calm in stressful situations. There are many who have opined that McGreavy should live out the rest of his life in prison, just as there are many who believe the <a href="https://www.eadt.co.uk/news/david-mcgreavy-to-be-released-from-woodbridge-prison-1-5809665">death penalty should have applied</a> (despite having been largely abolished in the UK in 1965). Such shocking cases prompt questions about whether mandatory life sentences for those who kill are suitable: should we lock up murderers for good and throw away the key? Or would a gentler system of restorative justice, such as in Norway, bring benefits to both the imprisoned and society?</p>
<h2>Sentencing in the UK</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/about-sentencing/types-of-sentence/life-sentences/">sentencing guidelines</a> for England and Wales dictate that convicted murderers receive a mandatory life sentence, generally starting at 15 years without parole, but which will vary depending on <a href="https://www.cps.gov.uk/legal-guidance/sentencing-mandatory-life-sentences-murder-cases">aggravating and mitigating factors</a>, and whether the defendant has pleaded guilty, has previous convictions, and if the offence was committed while on bail. Ultimately, it is down to the judge’s discretion to set the minimum length of time a prisoner will spend in prison. But whole-life sentences are rare. Only around <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/offender-management-statistics-quarterly-january-to-march-2018">63 people</a> are currently serving these sentences, such as Peter Sutcliffe (the “Yorkshire Ripper”) and serial killer Rosemary West.</p>
<p>The convicted murderer <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/law/2017/jan/17/european-judges-uphold-uk-right-to-impose-whole-life-jail-sentences">Arthur Hutchinson</a> took a case to the European Court of Human Rights in 2017 claiming that his whole-life sentence with no hope for release amounted to inhuman and degrading treatment. He received a whole-life order for the triple murder of a family on their daughter’s wedding day, later raping a young woman in the wedding marquee and stealing from the murdered family’s home. </p>
<p>However the court found that his human rights under Article 3 of the convention had not been breached. As “exceptional grounds” may allow for the early release of someone detained under a whole-life order, this <a href="https://academic.oup.com/hrlr/article/14/1/59/667050">slim prospect of release</a> ensures the UK approach is compatible with European human rights law.</p>
<h2>Sentencing in Norway</h2>
<p>Mandatory sentence minimums and whole-life sentences contrast starkly with the approach in Norway, which is known for focusing on rehabilitation in prison, and also has among the world’s <a href="https://salve.edu/sites/default/files/filesfield/documents/Incarceration_and_Recidivism.pdf">lowest rates of reoffending</a>.</p>
<p>Norway’s criminal justice system is distinct from that of the UK and other Anglo-Saxon nations. It has no life sentence. The <a href="https://slate.com/human-interest/2013/05/why-does-norway-have-a-21-year-maximum-prison-sentence.html">maximum term of imprisonment is 21 years</a>, although this sentence can be extended by five-year increments through “<a href="https://bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-244X-11-40">preventative detention</a>”. </p>
<p>Based on a <a href="https://www.norwegianamerican.com/opinion/what-is-restorative-justice/">restorative justice</a> model that focuses on the rehabilitation of offenders through reconciliation with victims and with society at large, Norway’s criminal justice system shifts the emphasis from retribution to healing. Characterised by high levels of <a href="https://journals-sagepub-com.ezproxy.staffs.ac.uk/doi/10.1177/1462474513504799">social trust</a>, low security, favourable living conditions and low incarceration rates, the Norwegian approach has come to be known as <a href="https://academic.oup.com/bjc/article/48/2/119/422635">Scandinavian penal exceptionalism</a>. Such approaches have been found to reduce crime, reduce the economic burden of imprisoning criminals, and <a href="https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2011/09/terror-trial-and-justice-in-norway/">reduce recidivism</a>.</p>
<p>That’s why Norwegian extremist <a href="http://fixthe13th.org/img/Norway%20Prison%20Rehabilitation.pdf">Anders Behring Breivik</a>, who killed 77 people in a bombing and mass shooting, was only sentenced to 21 years imprisonment. Despite the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jun/16/crush-terrorist-lessons-norway-breivik">incredulity</a> of those from countries that focus on more prolonged incarcaration such as the UK and US, the victims’ families welcomed the sentence. Even so, Breivik was unimpressed by the conditions for prisoners and pursued a <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/anders-breivik-norway-mass-murderer-appeal-european-human-rights-court-oslo-strasbourg-a8409861.html">human rights appeal</a> which, as with Hutchinson’s case, was unsuccessful.</p>
<h2>Which works best?</h2>
<p>There is no consensus on an optimal policy. But it would appear that Norway’s approach leads with its respect for human dignity – which is often mischaracterised as leniency. With a reported <a href="https://www.economist.com/international/2017/05/27/too-many-prisons-make-bad-people-worse-there-is-a-better-way?fsrc=scn/tw/te/bl/ed/prisonstoomanyprisonsmakebadpeopleworsethereisabetterway">recidivism rate of only 20%</a> – compared to <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/751109/proven_reoffending_bulletin_October_to_December_16.pdf">between around 30% and 65%</a> in England and Wales, depending on the category of offender, and upwards of <a href="https://www.nij.gov/topics/corrections/recidivism/Pages/welcome.aspx">67% within three years of release</a> in the US – it would seem that a softer approach to prison works. </p>
<p>However, some researchers argue that recidivism data <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0130390">cannot be compared between countries</a> due to significant variations in how recidivism is defined and reported. In fact recidivism rates in Norway have been found to <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0011128715570629?journalCode=cadc">range from 14% to 42%</a> depending on the sample and measured outcomes.</p>
<p>But we cannot disregard the huge economic burden on taxpayers of the costs required to house a growing number of criminals. In the UK, it has been estimated at <a href="http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN04334/SN04334.pdf">£22,993 per prisoner per year</a>, by which ready reckoning it has cost more than £1m to imprison McGreavy for the past 45 years, despite the fact that it is well-established that murderers have one of the lowest recidivism rates of any group. </p>
<p>The benefit of the <a href="http://sociologyindex.com/rehabilitative_ideal.htm">rehabilitative ideal</a> is that kinder, rather than more brutal prisons are the most <a href="https://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/sites/crimeandjustice.org.uk/files/09627250508553609.pdf">cost-effective way</a> of dealing with the threat to general welfare posed by criminality. Accepting this paradox and stepping away from the retaliatory approach requires an objective stance on criminal justice that strives to remain uninfluenced by the moral implications or the subjective impact on the victim and their family. </p>
<p>With an imprisonment rate of <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/300986/incarceration-rates-in-oecd-countries/">141 per 100,000 people</a> (or 120 per 100,000 for the UK as a whole), England and Wales is far from that rehabilitative ideal, albeit far below that of the US, with 655 per 100,000 people. Norway’s incarceration rate is around half that, at <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/300986/incarceration-rates-in-oecd-countries/">74 per 100,000</a>. A pragmatic and objective approach to restorative justice that looks to minimise the figurative and literal costs to society will perhaps be one that can overcome the perception that, in criminal justice, “<a href="http://sociologyindex.com/nothing_works.htm">nothing works</a>”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/108445/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tawney Bennett does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The ‘Monster of Worcester’ would have been released 24 years ago in Norway - would that have been better for everyone?Tawney Bennett, Lecturer in Law, Staffordshire UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1021342018-09-14T11:42:45Z2018-09-14T11:42:45ZFixing the prison crisis in Birmingham and beyond – it’s about more than process and punishment<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/235208/original/file-20180906-190662-1axqpl5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/prison-jail-cell-529712440?src=l_b7BOErci5rMDVR6ZuSxQ-1-2">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>So far this year, three British prisons have been placed under serious review because of the way they are run. The chief inspector issued the “<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/urgent-notification">Urgent Notifications</a>” over significant concerns about the treatment and conditions of those detained within local prisons, most recently <a href="https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprisons/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2018/08/16-Aug-UN-letter-HMP-Birmingham-Final.pdf">HMP Birmingham</a>. </p>
<p>Rates of <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/safety-in-custody-quarterly-update-to-march-2018">serious violence, self-harm and suicide</a> are the highest ever, particularly among those <a href="http://www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/Portals/0/Documents/Bromley%20Briefings/Summer%202017%20factfile.pdf">on remand or recall</a> who are held within this type of prison.</p>
<p>Local prisons are the first prisons entered when a person is remanded or sentenced to imprisonment before transferring to a more specialist or longer stay institution. They are inherently difficult to manage because of the highly varied needs of the people who are sent there.</p>
<p>Many of those who enter local prisons are dealing with drug and alcohol misuse, low literacy and homelessness – at the same time as being removed from their family and support networks. Critically, many have the kind of complex mental health and psychological needs that would otherwise be dealt with in a highly specialised mental health hospital. </p>
<p>As many as <a href="http://www.ohrn.nhs.uk/OHRNResearch/EnvPath.pdf">one in five have both substance misuse issues and serious mental health concerns</a>. But prison is not an environment which is focused on mental health. Meanwhile, those serving time in local prisons need to access education, develop work skills and become rehabilitated.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/full/10.1108/JCP-03-2017-0017">My research</a> starkly demonstrates that violence is linked with self harm in prisons, with one in ten of those in local prisons engaging in both behaviours. This leads to highly challenging management scenarios. Added to this is the major destabilising effect of <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/669541/9011-phe-nps-toolkit-update-final.pdf">psychoactive substances like Spice or Mamba</a>. As many as two thirds of prisons have reported a “significant issue” with Spice – its effects are highly unpredictable, and its supply is often associated with organised criminal activity and prisoner debt.</p>
<p>A further destabilising element in prisons is staff inexperience. A recent <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2016-01-27/24639/">early retirement scheme</a> saw over 4,000 experienced staff leaving the prison service. Now, at one local prison, over half of the officers have less than a year in the job. Due to this widespread inexperience, staff will understandably struggle to meet complex challenges. We must remember that for these staff, a “<a href="https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprisons/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2018/05/HMP-YOI-Nottingham-Web-2018.pdf">persistent and fundamental lack of safety</a>” has become their everyday working environment. They are working exceptionally hard, but with little space or time to move past the reality of simply reacting to the next incident.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/minister-announces-10-prisons-project-to-develop-new-model-of-excellence">Recent announcements</a> promising £10m of new funding will provide a basis to improve security and accommodation, and reduce the availability of banned substances. But more is required for long term improvement.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14789949.2015.1062997">Our research</a> emphasises that effective change comes from greater coherence in organisational priorities and structure. This requires integrated expectations and policies across the criminal justice system – and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140673613625714?via%3Dihub">between the two departments of health and justice</a>.</p>
<p>The prison service also needs to move away from deeply rooted yet ineffective assumptions. For example, punishment may be considered necessary after rule breaking. But on its own, punishment is ineffective in reducing prison violence. And it can increase the risk of self-harm, especially if punishments are applied inconsistently. </p>
<h2>Prison walls</h2>
<p>As set out in the UK government’s <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/565014/cm-9350-prison-safety-and-reform-_web_.pdf">vision for prison governors</a>, these institutions can only achieve their goals through cooperation based on research and experiential evidence. However, this requires a brave shift from a policy led approach to creating a service which is strategic, knowledgeable and nimble. </p>
<p>Ongoing <a href="http://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/2343/1/216927_PubSub642Slade.pdf">support and supervision for staff</a> is also essential. There are few local prison staff who are specifically trained to understand complex harmful behaviours, or who have time to reflect. Prison work must move away from being process led, and instead provide staff with the ability to make use of the information they have, taking a wider view of the situation. We need to see the jigsaw picture before choosing the pieces. </p>
<p>Better funded training and ongoing support – potentially with external supervisors or placements into other professional settings – would go some way to improving practice among inexperienced staff.</p>
<p>Building on “<a href="https://unlockedgrads.org.uk/">Graduates Unlocked</a>” (the prison leadership programme for university graduates), more could be done with those outside of the justice system to share knowledge. For example, academics could work with front line staff in local prisons, providing insight and new ideas.</p>
<p>There is much work to do. But new security initiatives and <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/565014/cm-9350-prison-safety-and-reform-_web_.pdf">reforms of the prison estate</a> provide vital opportunities for learning across the system. A better approach to integration, staff development and knowledge exchange would help local prisons reach beyond process. They would then be free to address the deeper issues of how best to work with the people who live inside these institutions – so that they are better equipped for life outside them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/102134/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Karen Slade does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Well trained and experienced staff are a crucial part of improvements.Karen Slade, Associate Professor in applied forensic psychology, Nottingham Trent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1021322018-09-11T09:10:36Z2018-09-11T09:10:36ZThe benefits of prison chess clubs<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/235063/original/file-20180905-45135-prvg10.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/chess-game-255260497?src=XB9pIVT0jzEduzk_c8Wdgw-1-16">Shutterstock.</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Chess is a cheap and tactical game, and is claimed to <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-chess-players-can-teach-us-about-intelligence-and-expertise-72898">develop</a> the part of the brain responsible for planning, judgement and self control, and even <a href="https://www.chess.com/blog/PRINCESTER/7-surprising-health-benefits-of-playing-chess">to help prevent</a> dementia. So it’s no wonder that thousands of prisoners in the UK are now part of <a href="https://en.chessbase.com/post/chess-in-prisons-makes-a-difference">chess clubs</a>. </p>
<p>Working with people in prison and tackling reoffending is one of the biggest challenges society faces and I’ve <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Sport_in_Prison.html?id=NJ2LAgAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y">long argued</a> that physical activity, sport and games have a unique and important role to play. </p>
<p>In prisons, just as in wider society, the impact of sport and games can be far reaching. Participation can not only improve health and behaviour but can <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/733184/a-sporting-chance-an-independent-review-sport-in-justice.pdf">directly contribute</a> to efforts to reduce reoffending. It can provide a route for offenders into education and employment but also reduce violence and conflict, develop communication and other skills, and promote positive use of leisure time.</p>
<p>Recognising this, organisations and clubs are increasingly collaborating with prisons to develop programmes that promote activity and tackle reoffending in a range of ways. These include football clubs such as <a href="https://www.chelseafc.com/en/foundation/social-inclusion">Chelsea</a> and <a href="http://www.evertonfc.com/community/youth-engagement-programmes/the-projects/safe-hands">Everton</a>, rugby clubs including Saracens and Northampton, and other groups such as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/voluntary-sector-network/2017/dec/01/everyone-finished-and-took-a-lot-of-pride-prisoners-on-the-parkrun">parkrun</a>, <a href="https://www.ittf.com/2018/03/02/transforming-lives-brighton-table-tennis-club/">Brighton Table Tennis Club</a> and the <a href="https://www.chess.co.uk/chess-behind-bars/">English Chess Federation</a>. </p>
<p>Evidence suggests that some less mainstream sports and games have a positive impact in prison settings, particularly for those who are otherwise sedentary or simply reluctant to engage. Positive outcomes have been demonstrated and documented in prison populations by offering <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14729670701485832">adventure activities</a>, <a href="http://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/22836/3/Hemingway.pdf">animal assisted therapy</a>, <a href="http://daneshyari.com/article/preview/94446.pdf">yoga</a> and <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Chess_Behind_Bars.html?id=dsHJswEACAAJ&source=kp_cover&redir_esc=y">chess</a>.</p>
<h2>Sporting principles</h2>
<p>In mid-August 2018, I published a <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/sport-a-pillar-of-youth-rehabilitation-minister-publishes-independent-review">review</a> commissioned by the Ministry of Justice into the use of sport and physical activity in youth and adult prisons. I visited and audited the provision of prisons, young offender institutions and secure children’s homes throughout England and Wales, speaking with staff and those in their care. I invited responses to a public consultation and met with community groups and dozens of people whose lives have been changed through sport in prison. </p>
<p>Although much still needs to be done, I also reported some of the positive sporting achievements which have already taken place in prisons and which have provided the motivation and skills for people to turn their lives around. These achievements are all the more remarkable given the levels of despair and brutality often encountered within the prison system. One example of good practice involved the use of chess in prisons.</p>
<p>Aside from the social and cognitive benefits of promoting chess in our prisons, in one of the secure children’s homes I visited as part of my review, the clinical team told me about their use of a programme, informed by support given to people who had suffered trauma, to work with some of the most challenging children in their care. As part of this, the psychology team developed a series of tools using examples and principles from sports and games to develop behaviour management plans. </p>
<p>I learnt about how one staff member was using chess as both an analogy and a practical example in his one-to-one clinical work with one of the most challenging young people in the centre. I was told about how the rules of chess were used to inform therapeutic sessions, and how the game itself was a calming influence. The child had responded positively and aside from the direct therapeutic benefits of the sessions had also taken up chess as a hobby.</p>
<p>Because prisoners are a diverse group with diverse needs, the sports and games offered in prisons also need to be diverse. Older prisoners are the fastest growing population within English and Welsh prisons, and there are now <a href="https://data.justice.gov.uk/prisons">more over 60-year-olds</a> in prison than there are under-21s. This means that “meaningful activity” in prisons should constitute physically active as well as less active team and individual sports and games.</p>
<p>At a time when staff shortages and regime restrictions mean that efforts to escort prisoners from their residential wings to a gym or sports area are regularly thwarted, a readily available, purposeful activity such as chess should be a welcome addition to – but certainly not a replacement of – the limited existing activities available within prisons.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/102132/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rosie Meek has previously received funding from the Economic and Social Research Council and various other external research funders. She is affiliated with the Liberal Democrats' Crime and Policing policy working group.</span></em></p>Games such as chess should be a welcome addition to the activities available for prisoners.Rosie Meek, Professor of Criminology & Psychology, Royal Holloway University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/983642018-07-05T09:29:30Z2018-07-05T09:29:30ZWhy the UK needs a separate justice system for people with mental illness<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/226137/original/file-20180704-73312-u465kn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/trial-court-200637095?src=6MpNwv6Vr3Y1S99-UjdR7g-1-52">Panyakan3033/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-41125009">Severe mental illness</a> is on the rise in the UK, and an increasing number of people with mental illness are behind bars and supported by <a href="http://www.ppo.gov.uk/mental-health-services-in-prison-need-to-improve-further-says-ombudsman">inadequate mental health services</a>. This is a situation that could be improved by the introduction of courts specifically geared for hearing cases involving defendants with mental health issues.</p>
<p>In England, there are more than <a href="https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Mental-health-in-prisons.pdf">31,000</a> people with mental health problems in prison. In <a href="http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100509093521/http:/www.justice.gov.uk/publications/docs/research-problems-needs-prisoners.pdf">one sample</a> of prisons in England and Wales, more than one-third reported significant symptoms of anxiety or depression and 10% were identified as having a psychotic disorder. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/law/2017/nov/27/uk-justice-system-failing-defendants-with-mental-health-issues-charity">neglect and mistreatment</a> of defendants with mental health issues raises <a href="https://ukhumanrightsblog.com/2010/09/17/specialist-mental-health-courts-are-a-good-idea-which-may-never%c2%a0happen/">human rights</a> concerns.</p>
<p>The prevalence rate of defendants with serious mental illness coming before UK courts is not well known. As of 2006, one study estimates that slightly more than <a href="https://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/pdf/Bradley%20Report11.pdf">1% of defendants</a> appearing at magistrates’ courts were identified as having a serious mental illness – and the percentage rose dramatically to almost 7% for those held in custody. The numbers for those falling under the broader “<a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1983/20/section/1">mental disorder</a>” categorisation are undoubtedly higher. The majority of offenders with mental health issues go through the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/44/section/157">normal sentencing process</a>. </p>
<p>There are some safeguards. The Crown Prosecution Service may <a href="https://www.mind.org.uk/media/46883/mind-guide-mental-health-and-courts-2010.pdf">discontinue the prosecution</a> in cases of minor offences, especially if there is past evidence of a hospital order. Or if questions of fitness (for the trial process or to plead) are raised, it triggers a psychiatric assessment. This can lead to a hospital order, supervision order or, in rare cases, absolute discharge. If remanded to hospital for treatment, the majority respond to treatment and the trial process continues. </p>
<p>Efforts are increasing to provide more <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/increased-mental-health-services-for-those-arrested">mental health services throughout the court process</a> – but not under a specialist court model.</p>
<h2>Mental health courts</h2>
<p>Mental health courts, on the other hand, treat defendants with mental illness as a special population. In the US, for example, more than <a href="https://www.samhsa.gov/gains-center/mental-health-treatment-court-locator/adults">300 mental health courts</a> have now been established as a part of a broader <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1467-9930.00107">problem-solving</a> court movement. <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/titles/7085.html">Drug courts</a> were at the forefront of this trend. Developed in the late 1980s, these <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160252702002066">specialty jurisdiction courts</a> attempt to get at the underlying problems related to criminal behaviour.</p>
<p>In the <a href="http://justiceinnovation.org/">UK</a> – especially in England and Wales – <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/law/2016/may/21/new-york-problem-solving-courts-england-wales">problem-solving courts</a> have emerged in many areas, notably drug courts, but not in mental health. According to a recent <a href="https://2bquk8cdew6192tsu41lay8t-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/JUSTICE-Mental-Health-and-Fair-Trial-Report-2.pdf">report</a>, there are no concrete plans to move forward with the introduction of specialist mental health courts, despite two year-long <a href="https://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/publications/research-and-analysis/moj-research/mhc-process-evaluation.pdf">pilot studies</a> in England. Expansion of existing <a href="https://www.england.nhs.uk/commissioning/health-just/liaison-and-diversion/">liaison and diversion services</a> are not currently being incorporated into a mental health court model.</p>
<p>Efforts need to be redoubled. <a href="https://www.palgrave.com/br/book/9783319789019#aboutBook">I have shown</a> that mental health courts work to reduce reoffending, enhance public safety and improve the well-being of individuals with mental illness. Mental health courts place more emphasis on the <a href="https://repository.law.miami.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.bing.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1948&context=umlr">therapeutic</a> and are less adversarial than traditional criminal justice.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/226164/original/file-20180704-73326-p7gv72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/226164/original/file-20180704-73326-p7gv72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226164/original/file-20180704-73326-p7gv72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226164/original/file-20180704-73326-p7gv72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226164/original/file-20180704-73326-p7gv72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226164/original/file-20180704-73326-p7gv72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226164/original/file-20180704-73326-p7gv72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Prison often worsens inmates’ mental health.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/female-prisoner-being-investigated-hands-cuffed-361204967?src=ip4GsQYvPxNO6Jf0B0i6PA-1-0">Maen Zayyad/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Such courts often have a staff that include both traditional positions (judge, attorney, probation officer) and newer social positions (social worker, neutral court liaison). One judge I interviewed described the court as “a place where it was possible to promote wellness and recovery”. Another judge described the shifting thought processes involved: “You are not seeing a criminal who is mentally ill. You are seeing a mentally ill person who is engaging in criminogenic behaviour.”</p>
<p>In mental health courts, clients are treated holistically, with individually-tailored plans combining community-based treatment (mental health and in many cases for alcohol or drug addictions), housing and social support. Once a defendant has an eligible diagnosis (such as depression OR schizophrenia) and are perceived as amenable to treatment, clients or participants (as opposed to defendants) must volunteer to participate in a mental health court. Opting-in requires agreeing to a set of conditions for a period (which varies but is typically around two years) with frequent probation and judicial reviews.</p>
<p>In exchange, clients are offered a reduced sentence or dismissal of criminal charges, as well as access to additional resources. When they do not comply with court expectations, “creative” responses are favoured. Jail is seen as a “last resort”.</p>
<h2>Successes</h2>
<p>Along with <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047235210002138?via%3Dihub">other studies</a>, my research shows that there is a significant reduction in reoffending rates. In one <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0093854817708395">US mental health court</a>, 47% of clients had not been re-arrested within the two years after court exit. If you only count those people who complete the court programme, the percentage goes up.</p>
<p>The goals of these courts go beyond reducing reoffending rates – they aim to enhance the stability and quality of life of clients. “You should help people be in a better position than they were when they came in” suggested one prosecutor I interviewed.</p>
<p>Of the seven clients I interviewed and observed in court, it was the unique approach that led to (some degree of) success. For Monique, support from the team was critical: “During the time I was on probation, the monitoring of my life and what I was doing was good for me because it kept me on the straight and narrow”, she told me. Meanwhile, the court helped Jennifer to “build healthy habits” and Isaiah, another client, to “get the tools he needs”. Robert credited his success in court and in turning his life around to the supportive housing he gained through the court – after being homeless and suffering from alcoholism – along with his probation officer, who “saw some hope in me”. Shima highlighted the supportive team and transformative power of mental health courts: “It made me believe that I don’t need to get in trouble no more. I am fresh now”. </p>
<p>Mental health courts can <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/2156869315598203">reduce stigma</a> and lead to a renewed identity.</p>
<p>Now is an ideal time to consider the UK’s criminal justice policy concerning defendants with mental illness: <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-41125009">attitudes towards mental illness</a> are becoming more tolerant, opening up the way for public support for mental health courts. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, the policy of austerity <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2018/05/31/world/europe/31reuters-eurozone-budget-commission.html">in Europe</a>, and the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/28/world/europe/uk-austerity-poverty.html">UK</a> is associated with weakening (mental) health apparatuses and less generous welfare benefits and available social services. This is not to mention that people with severe mental illness often suffer from other risk factors – homelessness and substance abuse – which mental health courts are better equipped to address that traditional courts. </p>
<p>While mental health courts can improve the lives of clients, they do not work for all clients. Importantly, they cannot ameliorate the problems in the criminal justice system or the welfare state. Solutions to managing mental illness largely occur outside the criminal justice system. But efforts within the criminal justice system, such as the mental health court, can alleviate some problems and represent an important step forward.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/98364/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Karen A. Snedker received funding from Seattle Pacific University's Faculty Research Grant Program. </span></em></p>Mental health courts work to reduce reoffending, enhance public safety and improve the well-being of individuals with mental illness.Karen A Snedker, Academic Visitor, Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/985302018-06-19T10:27:20Z2018-06-19T10:27:20ZJuneteenth: Freedom’s promise is still denied to thousands of blacks unable to make bail<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/223675/original/file-20180618-85849-1akbwxg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Black men occupy a disproportionate share of prison cells in the U.S.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">sakhorn/Shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>June 19 marks Juneteenth, a celebration of the de facto end of slavery in the United States. </p>
<p>For hundreds of thousands of African-Americans stuck in pretrial detention – accused but not convicted of a crime, and unable to leave because of bail – that promise remains unfulfilled. And coming immediately after Father’s Day, it’s also a reminder of the loss associated with the forced separation of families.</p>
<p>On a very personal level, I know how this separation feels. Every Father’s Day since 2011, I’ve been reminded of the unexpected death of my dad at the age of 48. But also on a professional level, as a criminologist who has been <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=CwF5k6YAAAAJ&hl=en">researching mass incarceration</a> for the past decade, I understand the disproportionate impact it’s had on African-Americans, <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0002716208324850">destabilizing black families</a> in the process. </p>
<h2>Blacks behind bars</h2>
<p>Juneteenth is a celebration of African-Americans’ triumph over slavery and access to freedom in the U.S., which occurred in Galveston, Texas, in June of 1865, over two and a half years after President Lincoln’s <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/emancipation-proclamation">Emancipation Proclamation</a>. </p>
<p>While Juneteenth is a momentous day in U.S. history, it is important to appreciate that the civil rights and liberties promised to African-Americans have yet to be fully realized. As legal scholar Michelle Alexander <a href="https://thenewpress.com/books/new-jim-crow">forcefully explains</a>, this is a consequence of Jim Crow laws and the proliferation of incarceration that began in the 1970s, including the increase of people placed in <a href="https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/bulr97&div=4&id=&page=&collection=journals">pretrial detention</a> and <a href="https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s12111-001-1013-3.pdf">other criminal justice policies</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2018.html">There are 2.3 million people</a> currently incarcerated in American prisons and jails – including those not convicted of any crime. Black people <a href="https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2018.html">comprise 40 percent of them</a>, even though they represent just 13 percent of the U.S. population. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/223672/original/file-20180618-85858-igkuau.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/223672/original/file-20180618-85858-igkuau.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=784&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223672/original/file-20180618-85858-igkuau.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=784&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223672/original/file-20180618-85858-igkuau.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=784&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223672/original/file-20180618-85858-igkuau.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=985&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223672/original/file-20180618-85858-igkuau.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=985&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223672/original/file-20180618-85858-igkuau.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=985&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Protesters march through Harlem in the March for Justice.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rainmaker Photo/MediaPunch/IPX</span></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Not yet guilty but not free</h2>
<p>More troubling is the number of incarcerated individuals currently held in jail for crimes of which they have not yet been convicted. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.prisonpolicy.org/">Prison Policy Initiative</a>, a nonpartisan think tank that focuses on mass incarceration, <a href="https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2018.html">has reported</a> that over a half million citizens are languishing in pretrial detention. And like most criminal justice outcomes, the burden of this <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/soc4.12576">disproportionately falls on minorities</a>, especially black <a href="http://www.pretrial.org/release-jail-tied-black-poor/">men</a> and <a href="https://storage.googleapis.com/vera-web-assets/downloads/Publications/overlooked-women-and-jails-report/legacy_downloads/overlooked-women-and-jails-fact-sheet.pdf">women</a>. </p>
<p>In local jails alone, over 300,000 people are awaiting trial for property, drug or public order crimes. And again, these <a href="https://www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/publications/Racial%20Disparities%20Report%20062515.pdf">disproportionately black defendants</a> are confined and separated from their families, friends and jobs simply because they lack the means to post cash bail – the only reason they can’t get out. </p>
<h2>Toll on families</h2>
<p>It should be no surprise, then, that <a href="http://www.pewtrusts.org/%7E/media/legacy/uploadedfiles/pcs_assets/2010/collateralcosts1pdf.pdf">1 in 9 black children</a> now has a parent behind bars, compared with the national rate of 1 in 28. </p>
<p>And many of these children are at an increased likelihood of experiencing <a href="http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/131/4/e1188.short">physical and mental health issues</a>, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1745-9125.2011.00257.x">academic struggles</a> and a range of <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1360-0443.2010.03110.x">other behavioral problems</a>. Children of incarcerated mothers are also at heightened odds of <a href="http://heinonline.org/hol-cgi-bin/get_pdf.cgi?handle=hein.journals/uclalr59&section=42&casa_token=_1TPFIpjGMEAAAAA:t0nAOwVTZjH2WNjPI7gpIbxNoBEZmJN9C0vNJBJxo_YZnvCvxCKGd8i_HDOM2vvoAX-potSUuA">ending up in foster care</a> and <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/12/why-children-with-parents-in-prison-are-especially-burdened/433638/">being exposed to other traumas</a>.</p>
<p>Being the partner of an incarcerated individual is another <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10964-015-0318-9">often stressful experience</a> that also falls disproportionately on black citizens, particularly women.</p>
<h2>Some good news</h2>
<p>The good news is that such injustices are receiving growing attention nationwide. </p>
<p><a href="https://justcity.org/">Just City</a>, a nonprofit organization working to reduce the harms of the criminal justice system, <a href="https://justcity.kindful.com/mcbf/just-city">has campaigned</a> to raise funds and promote awareness of its <a href="https://justcity.org/what-we-do/#memphis-cbf">Memphis Community Bail Fund</a> project for Father’s Day – in part because nearly half a million of the black men behind bars <a href="http://www.pewtrusts.org/%7E/media/legacy/uploadedfiles/pcs_assets/2010/collateralcosts1pdf.pdf">are dads</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://justcity.org/what-we-do/">The aim of the project</a> is to provide both financial and legal support for defendants lacking resources to independently secure their pretrial release, with <a href="https://justcity.kindful.com/mcbf/just-city">the goal of the campaign</a> being the release of jailed fathers so that they could be with their kids for the holiday.</p>
<p>Bail funds similar to Just City’s have <a href="https://nashvillebailfund.org">proliferated</a> <a href="https://www.detroitjustice.org/blog/2018/3/18/h3bjobbh3-were-launching-a-bail-fund-in-detroit-apply-to-be-a-full-time-bail-disruptor">throughout</a> the U.S.</p>
<p>On one hand, the multiplication of these organizations is encouraging and reason for optimism. On the other, their growth is another reminder that many of the freedoms celebrated on Juneteenth remain unrealized.</p>
<h2>A long road continues</h2>
<p>In cities like Detroit, <a href="http://www.pewtrusts.org/%7E/media/assets/2009/03/02/pspp_1in31_report_final_web_32609.pdf">where 1 in 7 adult males is under some form of correctional control in some communities</a>, it is a monumental task to make sense of the short- and long-term impacts of incarceration for black families. </p>
<p>Children suffer. Parents struggle. Relationships deteriorate. And as a result, so too do so many African-American communities. Lost wages matter to families, but they also matter to communities. The lower tax base that results makes it <a href="https://maketheroadny.org/pix_reports/Justice%20Reinvestment%20Final%20Report.pdf">more difficult</a> for struggling public institutions, like schools, to progress. And with such a large share of individuals removed from some communities due to incarceration, and <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/states-rethink-prisoner-voting-rights-incarceration-rates-rise-n850406">branded as felons</a> upon their release, these communities lose potential voters and the political capital they carry. They are too often disenfranchised and stripped of their full power and potential.</p>
<p>Juneteenth celebrates the freedom of black Americans and the long, hard road they were forced to traverse to gain that freedom. But as criminologists like me have maintained time and again, the U.S. criminal justice system remains biased, albeit implicitly, against them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/98530/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Larson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Just as with so many other criminal justice policies, pretrial detention disproportionately affects African-American men and women, destabilizing black families in the process.Matthew Larson, Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice, Wayne State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/931572018-03-16T17:04:58Z2018-03-16T17:04:58ZPrisons will only improve if the public demands change<p>The state of prisons in England and Wales is dangerous and deeply concerning. According to the government’s own figures, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/feb/17/uk-brutal-prisons-failing-violence-drugs-gangs">assaults rose</a> from 9,440 in 2000 to 28,165 in 2017 – an average of 77 per day. Self-harm levels are the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/676144/safety-in-custody-q3-2017.pdf">highest ever recorded</a>. A <a href="https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprisons/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2017/10/Findings-paper-Living-conditions-FINAL-.pdf">report</a> by HM Inspectorate of Prisons in 2017 showed that living conditions are filthy. Prisoners lack basic sanitary supplies. The daily food budget per prisoner is £2.02.</p>
<p>I spent nine years working in prison psychology and witnessed the human consequences of our prison conditions at first hand. They are unacceptable in any society which cares about human rights. I left because I cannot help people leave behind a criminal lifestyle while prisons are in their current state. I cannot help when my clients arrive to see me fearing assault en route, lacking toilet roll or toothpaste, or feeling ill and scared because they had not been given their basic medication. I was employed to help people thrive, not simply survive.</p>
<p>So what is being done? The new prisons minister, Rory Stewart, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/17/rory-stewart-reform-prisons-crisis?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter">refers confidently</a> to the recruitment drive for 2,500 extra prison officers. But since 2010, staff numbers have been <a href="http://www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/Portals/0/Documents/Bromley%20Briefings/Autumn%202017%20factfile.pdf">cut by 5,620</a>. Therefore, the government is returning less than half the staff they took. It can never return the decades of experience lost, by employing new recruits. “Jailcraft”, as it is called inside, takes time to learn. </p>
<p>By 2019, the Ministry of Justice will have had its <a href="http://thejusticegap.com/2017/11/crisis-full-blown-emergency-ministry-justice-faces-cuts/">budget reduced</a> by £3.7 billion since the drive for austerity began. Essentially, an already broken system is set to be broken further, with only lip service paid to reform.</p>
<h2>Prisoners or citizens?</h2>
<p>The sad truth is that the plight of prisoners does not inspire the same kind of public outcry as crises in education, the NHS or the care system. Prisoners are not seen as “citizens” but as “criminals” and “offenders”, in prison to be punished. If poor and dangerous living conditions form part of that punishment then so much the better – or so some think.</p>
<p>So, without public pressure, there is simply not the same level of ministerial concern with prisons, as with other public services. The government is regularly informed and lobbied by organisations such as the <a href="http://www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/">Prison Reform Trust</a> and the <a href="https://howardleague.org/">Howard League for Penal Reform</a> about the need for prison and justice reform. But there is no real incentive to allocate the money and resources needed while voters are silent, unconcerned, or overtly punitive in their views.</p>
<p>To garner public support, a fundamental change in thinking is needed. Prisoners are currently seen as outside of society, having offended against it. And yet with only <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/655150/Offender_Management_Statistics_Bulletin_Q2_2017.pdf">59 whole-term lifers</a> imprisoned in England and Wales, 99.9% of the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/prison-population-figures-2018">83,899 people now imprisoned</a> will one day be released. Whether we like it or not, they are part of our society. </p>
<p>We cannot expect prisoners to willingly conform to the laws and duties we desire them to if we simultaneously send them the message that they are excluded from the society that makes those laws and duties. By seeing prisoners as anything less than fellow citizens, the cycle of reoffendng that people wish to prevent, is actually continually reinforced. In my work in prisons I was frequently asked by more perceptive prisoners: “How can everybody expect me to be humane when I am treated inhumanely?” It was a difficult question to answer. </p>
<p>Decades of research show that – broadly speaking – prisoners who are successfully reintegrated into society are <a href="http://www.sccjr.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Report_2010_03_-_Changing_Lives.pdf">less likely to continue reoffending</a>. The government is neither ideologically or practically inclined to make the changes really needed to achieve this, while public opinion remains punitive. </p>
<p>A solution is needed that starts in society – and in local communities. And it starts with concern. </p>
<h2>The real stories</h2>
<p>It starts with stories, with connection. We are fed a steady media diet of crime dramas about murderers and rapists of the most extreme variety. This is an unrepresentative picture of people in prison: <a href="http://www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/Portals/0/Documents/Bromley%20Briefings/Autumn%202017%20factfile.pdf">71% are there for a non-violent offence.</a> Those who are there for violence are much more complex than their crudely stereotyped media counterparts. Their <a href="http://www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/Portals/0/Documents/Bromley%20Briefings/Autumn%202017%20factfile.pdf">stories</a> need to be heard: of parental abuse (29%), neglect (24%), violence in the home (41%), school exclusion (42%), mental health problems (41%), addiction (86%), homelessness (15%) and most forms of <a href="http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http:/www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/media/cabinetoffice/social_exclusion_task_force/assets/publications_1997_to_2006/reducing_summary.pdf">social</a> and <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/278837/prisoners-childhood-family-backgrounds.pdf">familial</a> adversity.</p>
<p>So too do the stories of triumph against odds which many of us would struggle to overcome. Prisons are full of <a href="https://www.koestlertrust.org.uk">artists</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/profile/erwinjames">writers</a>, <a href="https://www.shaw-trust.org.uk/Media-policy/News/April-2016/New-Prison-Employment-Scheme-Sees-100-Success-Rat">hard grafters</a>, <a href="https://finecellwork.co.uk">skilled craftsman</a> and <a href="https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/angell-town-the-exgang-members-who-have-turned-their-lives-around-and-are-inspiring-others-to-do-the-a3071326.html">potential future leaders</a>. Many of them meet immense challenges with determination, integrity and good humour. They <a href="https://www.northumberlandgazette.co.uk/news/funds-raised-at-prison-to-aid-the-work-of-charity-1-8302606">fundraise</a>. They <a href="https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/whats-on/food-drink-news/clink-cafe-manchester-prison-restaurant-14373100">give back to their communities</a>. They <a href="https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/jailbake-freedom-bakery-gives-prison-7890264">make cake</a>. Criminal justice professionals and volunteers know this. But we need others to know too. We need to share a rounded picture of these imprisoned individuals through books, articles, social media and art. We need to give a platform to prisoners which clearly shows their potential to contribute to society, both before and upon release. And we need to show how current prison conditions are completely incompatible with this goal. </p>
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<h2>From concern to action</h2>
<p>But public concern needs to translate to public involvement. The number of people in prison is staggeringly high and there are simply not enough professionals to provide the focused one-to-one and social support which we know works best. The general public can really help. Whether that be with money, time, a job, a room, a listening ear, teaching a skill, sharing experiences, a visit, a welcoming invitation to a community group, mentorship, friendship, or simply a “welcome”. </p>
<p>These things can be offered inside prison and carried on outside, by anybody willing to offer them. This is societal reintegration carried out by members of that society. There are already <a href="http://www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/portals/0/documents/what%20can%20i%20do.pdf">schemes doing these things</a>, but to truly reintegrate prisoners, a broader increase in public involvement is needed. </p>
<p>Improving prisoner welfare is not a case of being “soft”, or doing an injustice to victims. It is a pragmatic decision. It is an investment in the safety of our friends and families, by reducing repeat offending and preventing further victimisation. Currently the repeat offending rate stands at <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/676431/proven-reoffending-bulletin-jan16-mar16.pdf">49% for adults released from custody</a> in England and Wales. In Norway – famed for its relatively safe and decent prisons – <a href="http://www.kriminalomsorgen.no/getfile.php/2819934.823.xpewptatwc/Nordic+relapse+study+abstract+.pdf">it is 20%</a>. The director of Halden Prison in Norway <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/why-norways-prison-system-is-so-successful-2014-12">neatly sums up</a> the pragmatism of investing in prisons: “Do you want people who are angry – or people who are rehabilitated?”</p>
<p>The approach to imprisonment in England and Wales has to change. And it will not change unless the public become sufficiently outraged to demand that the government take real action. That outrage will not happen until there is a more rounded public understanding of those who are housed inside our prisons. When the public brings their voices to bear on prison reform, ministers will have to listen.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/93157/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sophie Ellis does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Without public pressure, politicians won’t make improving conditions in prisons a priority.Sophie Ellis, Research Assistant, Institute of Criminology, University of CambridgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/910232018-02-22T10:24:46Z2018-02-22T10:24:46ZTeaching philosophy to prisoners can help transform ‘macho’ prison culture<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207082/original/file-20180220-116360-4w6g25.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/african-american-man-prison-410906965">Shutterstock/SkywardKickProductions</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Teaching prisoners philosophy may sound unconventional, but my <a href="https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/271849">research</a> has shown that it not only helps people survive the prison experience but it could also help reduce levels of violence and intimidation. <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0306624X02239278?journalCode=ijoe">Studies</a> have shown that prisoners get through their incarceration by putting on a “front” or a prison persona which helps them to navigate life behind bars.</p>
<p>But by sitting down and talking through philosophical issues I was able to provide a space where they could drop their macho fronts and learn to talk with each other about life, morality and identity. </p>
<p>My work took place in two male prisons. These are often places characterised by violence, intimidation and a hyper-masculine, macho culture. This characterisation is not without foundation. In the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/632625/safety-in-custody-quarterly-bulletin-mar-2017.pdf">12 months to March 2017</a>, there were more than 26,000 assaults and two homicides in the adult prison estate.</p>
<p>But, as recent <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-42747304">reports of suicides in Nottingham Prison</a> highlight, imprisonment can be particularly damaging to an individuals’ psychological health. Figures of self-harm and suicide eclipse those of prisoner-on-prisoner violence. <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/632625/safety-in-custody-quarterly-bulletin-mar-2017.pdf">In 2016-17</a>, incidences of self-harm stood at over 40,000, with 97 prisoners taking their own lives. </p>
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<h2>Violence and drudgery</h2>
<p>Outside the risk of violence, the prison experience is, in reality, characterised by <a href="https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/prisoners-turning-drugs-break-boredom-11316889">boredom and stagnation</a>. I worked with men who were serving long – and sometimes very long – sentences. My participants explained how time inside the walls of prison passes slowly. The drudgery of the routine, the mind-numbing work activities available and the lack of opportunity to express oneself all contributed to a sense of being <a href="https://academic.oup.com/bjc/article-abstract/56/4/831/2747218">suspended in time</a>. They wanted to be something other than a prisoner, a number or an offence-category. All this contributes to the slow erosion of identity. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.prc.crim.cam.ac.uk/publications/whitemoor-report">Power, authority and distrust</a> flow through the prisoner society. The need for “survival” in this context encourages men to project a macho “front” while prison officers watch from a distance. Is it right that men spend significant portions of their lives in a place that encourages such fronts? After all, these macho identities are ultimately self-defeating. They lead to further problems, not only for the men when they reenter wider society, but also within the prisons. Prison cultivates identities that are rooted in a projection of physical power. However, a better way would be to develop a space where prisoners can be themselves, where they can dare to hope and believe that they can better themselves. </p>
<h2>Philosophical thinking</h2>
<p>Growth and development are fundamental to the human experience. <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/hojo.12211/abstract">Education can be a lifeline to those inside,</a> providing a respite from the drudgery and a space for self-expression. </p>
<p>I spent six months delivering philosophy to men in two prisons in England. The prisoners in my study all had long sentences with many serving life. The class involved encouraging prisoners to engage in philosophical conversation and philosophical thinking. Rather than teaching them about the history of philosophy, I wanted them to be philosophers – to work together to improve their understanding of the fundamental principles upon which we base our life decisions. Together the group asked, and tried to answer, questions like: “How should society be organised?”, “What does it mean to live ‘the good life’?” and “What is morality?” </p>
<p>Over time, the groups were able to work together to engage in conversation that explored complex questions and develop a shared experience of philosophical exploration and personal reflection. Participants described the dialogue as a “break from the drudgery” or as a form of “freedom” not found elsewhere in the prison. They appreciated being given the opportunity to be in an “educated circle” and in an intellectual climate. As with other forms of educational experience, in the classroom they could be – for a short time – “philosophers” as opposed to offenders or prisoners. In other words, they could present a different, more positive “front”.</p>
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<span class="caption">Statue of Greek philosopher Aristotle.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/statue-aristotle-great-greek-philosopher-421724455?src=9i0-7wTZ9gdOHwUweS9XzQ-2-93">Shutterstock/Ververidis Vasilis</a></span>
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<p>Over the course of my research, I found that my prisoner-participants were deep thinkers, fully capable of intellectually challenging conversation and with perspectives that often proved insightful. Many were earnest in their attempts to find meaning in the prison environment and engaged in philosophical conversation with a passionate interest in self-improvement.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/sites/crimeandjustice.org.uk/files/PSJ%20225%20May%202016.pdf">My study</a> demonstrates that allowing for open, non-adversarial conversation around neutral and abstract topics can encourage positive interaction between prisoners, a shared understanding and a degree of empathy for different perspectives. Participants became calmer, more able to express their point of view without aggression and developed more open minds. Perhaps more of this type of education might have a real impact on the nature of prison culture? </p>
<p>If we are to assume that the purpose of prison is to rehabilitate, then there is an expectation of transformation placed upon prisoners. However, they are placed in a Catch-22 situation where survival involves projecting a particular persona. But growth and transformation involve deep and careful self-reflection in an environment characterised by fear, violence and intimidation. My classes served to counter the overarching prison atmosphere and provide a space for prisoners to be philosophers … even if it was just for a short time.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/91023/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kirstine Szifris receives funding from Economic Social Research Council. I currently work for the Policy Evaluation and Research Unit, MMU and am a member of the Labour Party.</span></em></p>Participants in a recent study became calmer, more able to express their point of view without aggression and developed more open minds.Kirstine Szifris, Research Associate, Prison Education, Manchester Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/773692018-01-31T13:53:19Z2018-01-31T13:53:19ZBeyond porridge: pigeon in a kettle and other prison-cell cuisine<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204263/original/file-20180131-131711-b5s8wk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/beans-tomato-sauce-53526535?src=t9n2ncSlvSCBRgE-Yw_7Yw-3-21">Jiri Hera via Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A while ago, as I sat in a hotel bedroom in Ottawa, I pondered the problems of eating breakfast while away from home. It’s all very well if your hotel offers a buffet of freshly-cut tropical fruit and eggs cooked to order. But suppose you’re faced with a stodgy supermarket croissant and a sausage of dubious provenance? I’ve solved this problem by travelling with a supply of porridge-oats, raisins, and a spoon. These and the “guest amenity” coffee machine near the minibar generally do me fine. I’m pretty satisfied with my hotel room life hack, but just sometimes, overnight muesli gets a little tedious. What else, I wondered, could I eat?</p>
<p>The answer turns out to be: more than you expected. A quick tour of the internet reveals that an entire cooked breakfast can be prepared in any moderately-equipped hotel bedroom. There are more than 10,000 videos demonstrating how to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iODrN07xIXA">cook bacon with an iron</a>, in case you’re interested. You can <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJyX9ClkGdc">soft-boil an egg in a coffee machine carafe</a>, or even prepare a <a href="https://spoonuniversity.com/recipe/how-to-make-an-omelet-with-a-clothing-iron">spinach and cheese omelette</a>, using the iron and some aluminium foil – which featured strongly in most of the recipes. It was quite a revelation.</p>
<p>A sociologist told me that when he started university in 1964 the tutor advised all freshers to get hold of one key text that would prove essential to their future studies. Pencils poised, they eagerly prepared to note down the details. Would it be a work by Max Weber? Émile Durkheim? Erving Goffman? It turned out to be <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2008/aug/17/british.vegetablesrecipes">Cooking in a Bedsitter</a> by Katherine Whitehorn, which explains how to construct elegant meals with limited equipment and space. “The lecturer read a short extract before turning to the demographic transition model of population,” he recalls.</p>
<p>It was good advice. Undergraduates, like travellers, often end up cooking in a bedroom. But what about people obliged to cater in truly confined spaces? Students and travellers, like the residents of bedsits, can leave their room to shop for eggs and foil, or for that matter to treat themselves to an entire meal at a restaurant. But for the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/prison-population-figures-2017">85,277</a> men and women currently held in custody in the UK’s 120-odd prisons, the challenges posed by eating are of an entirely different magnitude. </p>
<h2>Within these walls</h2>
<p>Organisations such as Food Matters have <a href="http://www.foodmatters.org/food-matters-inside-out/">demonstrated the obstacles</a> inmates face in their efforts to supplement their diet. While some prisons offer cooking facilities, in most cases prisoners are expected to eat the meals provided by a catering service. A <a href="http://www.foodmatters.org/food-matters-inside-out/">recent project at Wandsworth Reform Prison</a> found that inmates routinely felt underfed and were often unsatisfied with the food on offer. This is not surprising, given that the average spend on food per prisoner per day is about £2. Conjuring up three meals on this amount is no easy task – for comparison’s sake, in 2014 a single school dinner cost on average <a href="http://natcen.ac.uk/our-research/research/school-lunch-take-up-survey-2014/">£2.10</a>.</p>
<p>In response, prisoners develop creative ways of cooking for themselves. The first step is getting hold of ingredients. Few prisons permit inmates to cook in their cells, but it’s hard to explain why canteens sell onions and garlic unless it’s a tacit acceptance that they are likely be used for precisely this purpose. The next step is preparation. The same kettle that underpins the hotel-room breakfast and dormitory snack can also be put to work in a prison cell.</p>
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<p>A simple trick starts with an <a href="http://prisonuk.blogspot.se/2015/01/how-to-cook-in-prison-cell.html">empty golden syrup tin</a>. By fitting the tin into the top of a kettle you can create what is essentially a double boiler. The steam from the boiling water will heat up the tin and make it possible to warm up milk and make proper (as opposed to instant) porridge. Removing the thermostatic control stops the kettle switching off, essential for boiling noodles or bacon – or preparing more elaborate meals. </p>
<h2>First catch your pigeon</h2>
<p><a href="https://insidetime.org/boil-in-a-bag-pigeon/">Inside Time</a>, a magazine aimed at prisoners and detainees, explains how to make “boil-in-the-bag pigeon breast”. Once a pigeon has been trapped and butchered, the recipe reads:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Using the plastic sealable bag from the brew packs, place the pigeon breasts into the bag, adding a knob of butter, salt & pepper and some chopped chillies (if you can get them). Seal the bag and drop it into your kettle with water and boil for 25 minutes. Then leave to stand for a further 15 minutes before serving.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The use of kettles in this way leads to <a href="http://prisonuk.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/how-to-cook-in-prison-cell.html">regular power outages</a>, unsurprisingly.</p>
<p>An entire vegetable soup complete with a sofrito base of sautéed onions and garlic can be prepared in a suitably modified electric kettle. People who lack kettles can construct a water heater out of a stripped-down power cable attached to a metal nail-clipper. This device can then be used to heat larger quantities of water, in which a plastic bag containing pasta – or the makings of marinara sauce – can be suspended, according to Daniel Genis in his illuminating article on “<a href="https://www.thrillist.com/eat/nation/the-fine-art-of-cooking-in-prison-ingenious-jailhouse-cooking-hacks">The Fine Art of Cooking in Prison</a>”. He also explains how to fashion a wok out of another electric cable and a tin can.</p>
<p>To return to my hotel room in Ottawa, a gulf separates my insignificant breakfast dilemma from the daily dietary challenges facing inmates in Her Majesty’s Prisons. Yet the same electric kettle unites us. When the chief inspector of prisons announced in 2015 that a facility in my own county of Warwickshire would begin issuing kettles to inmates, <a href="https://www.thesun.co.uk/archives/news/931163/rapists-get-free-electric-kettles-in-jail-as-report-suggests-they-receive-basic-items/">The Sun harrumphed</a> about the cushy treatment being lavished on rapists and paedophiles. </p>
<p>That’s one way of looking at it. I prefer to think of the chain of humanity, symbolised by that kettle. It connects students, international travellers, prisoners and residents of bedsits, converted garden sheds, temporary housing and the other challenging accommodation options in which increasing numbers of us reside in today’s unstable and unsettling world.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/77369/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rebecca Earle does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Some inventive prison inmates have a surprisingly varied and satisfying diet.Rebecca Earle, Professor of HIstory, University of WarwickLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/826672017-11-02T10:06:00Z2017-11-02T10:06:00ZCracks are growing in the UK’s prison and probation service<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/189606/original/file-20171010-17676-jx8x72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/caucasian-mans-hands-on-bars-prison-413184934?src=T_wQiWI0MixcIG2owo9OfQ-1-3">Skywardkickproductions/shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/transforming-rehabilitation-a-strategy-for-reform">Transforming Rehabilitation</a> policies introduced by the government in 2014 were supposed to “drive down the rate of reoffending and deliver better value for the taxpayer”. These aims have yet to be realised and the arrangements for managing prisoners’ rehabilitation are not working. In fact, serious cracks are beginning to show which are evidence of a system in serious decline. </p>
<p>After <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/may/09/ministers-accused-dismantling-probation-service#">scrapping the Probation Trusts</a> in England, the government put the care and support of low-risk ex-offenders into the hands of private sector companies. These organisations are called Community Rehabilitation Companies and they had to tender to the government for contracts to provide these services. They operate on the basis of striking deals, or contracts, with rehabilitation support services within the voluntary sector at the lowest possible cost.</p>
<p>So far, the consequences of this part-privatisation of the probation services have proved disastrous. There have been <a href="https://www.napo.org.uk/blogs/job-cuts-announced-purple-futures-today">large scale redundancies</a> of probation managers, prisoners receiving insufficient support for their resettlement, and <a href="https://www.nao.org.uk/report/transforming-rehabilitation/n">reoffending rates</a> remain high. </p>
<h2>A profit-driven approach</h2>
<p>One of the many failings of these new companies has been to trim to the bone the range of support services available for offenders. Consequently, a high proportion of local specialist agencies (mostly small charities) have lost work because the rehabilitation companies do not view them as value for money. Small charities simply do not have the resources to compete in this ruthless, profit-driven environment. </p>
<p>As a consequence, the future of many of the smaller support organisations – which provide specialist rehabilitation services for offenders – is looking bleak. The crucial work they do in supporting ex-offenders does not come cheap and because the rehabilitation companies are looking to cut costs, this vital support work is in danger of disappearing altogether.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.uclan.ac.uk/research/explore/themes/criminal-justice-partnership.php">Criminal Justice Partnership</a> at the University of Central Lancashire hosted a “Have Your Say” event in July 2017 for voluntary (or not-for-profit) organisations who provide rehabilitation support. The focus of the event was a presentation of the “State of the Sector” report by Angela Lucas from <a href="https://www.clinks.org/">CLINKS</a> (a national charity that supports voluntary sector organisations working within the criminal justice sector).</p>
<p>The report revealed some <a href="http://www.clinks.org/resources-reports-mapping/state-sector-reports">grim home truths</a>. Many voluntary organisations working within the criminal justice sector are now suffering serious financial losses, which are impacting on their ability to carry out their work.</p>
<p>Delegates at the event were asked to share their professional experiences of the new commissioning landscape and how this has affected their work and income. On the whole, their responses echoed many of the negative issues raised in the CLINKS survey. </p>
<h2>The verdict from delegates</h2>
<p>1) The new structure favours the larger, national charities when it comes to awarding contracts. Smaller, local and more specialist service providers are struggling to remain in business.</p>
<p>2) An increasing number of research based reports are showing that effective rehabilitation services in the criminal justice system <a href="http://www.mmuperu.co.uk/publications/social-innovation-in-the-criminal-justice-system">are being hampered</a>, rather than encouraged, by the current reforms.</p>
<p>3) In many instances, the smaller not-for-profit organisations are considered to be “too small” to be awarded contracts and supporting offenders has become target-driven in order to qualify for the bonuses the government pays for reducing reoffending rates. </p>
<p>4) The traditionally held professional values of small not-for-profit organisations are being threatened by the profit-and-loss business approach of the rehabilitation companies. </p>
<p>5) The quality of leadership and management in these companies came in for a high degree of criticism. Inadequate leadership and management was said to be reducing the quality of support services to a “box ticking” culture of hitting targets. </p>
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<p>Overall, these responses are a far cry from 2011, when The Probation Service was awarded the British Quality Foundation <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/probation-service-wins-excellence-award">gold medal for excellence</a> and a number of Probation Trusts were individually awarded four and five star status for excellence. </p>
<p>The new world of private commissioning appears to value efficiency and economy above quality, innovative services that prioritise the individual needs of offenders. It has come as no surprise that the Justice Select Committee has announced an <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/mar/21/private-companies-could-pull-out-of-probation-contracts-over-costs">inquiry</a> into these rehabilitation reforms. The reason given is “the poor performance of the new private probation companies”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/82667/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Christine Hough receives reserach funding from the Barrow Cadbury Trust. </span></em></p>Probation services in the UK are straining under a system that prioritises profit above rehabilitation.Christine Hough, Senior Lecturer Children, Schools and Families, University of Central LancashireLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.