APPENDIX 7
Memorandum by the Penal Affairs Consortium
A. THE
RISING
PRISON
POPULATION
1. Last Friday (30 January 1998) the prison
population of England and Wales stood at 63,604. It has risen
by 57 per cent since the end of 1992 when it was 40,606. There
has been an even sharper percentage rise in the number of women
prisoners, which last Friday was 2,887—an increase of 113
per cent since the end of 1992 when it was 1,353.
2. The resulting pressure of numbers is
felt most sharply in the Victorian-built city local prisons which
always bear the brunt of overcrowding. Some prisons are much more
overcrowded than the average. On30 July 1997, 10 prisons were
over 40 per cent overcrowded, six of which were over 60 per cent
overcrowded. Four were over 70 per cent overcrowded. The number
of prisoners held two to a cell designed for one person rose from
8,448 in January 1996 to 11,386 in July 1997.
3. The rising prison population is not due
to an increase in the number of offenders appearing before the
courts but is due to harsher sentencing. At all courts, the proportion
of adult offenders sentenced for indictable offences who were
sentenced to custody rose from 16 per cent in 1992 to 24 per cent
in 1996. At the Crown Court the proportion rose from 45 per cent
to 61 per cent, while at magistrates' courts it increased from
5 to 10 per cent. The average length of sentence has also increased.
The average sentence length at the Crown Court rose from 21.1
months in 1992 to 23.6 months in 1996 for adult males and from
17.7 months to 20 months for adult females. Increases have occurred
for most categories of offence.
4. In a speech to the National Probation
Convention on 12 November 1997, the Lord Chief Justice said:
"It is a fact very well known to us all
that there has in recent years been an exponential increase in
the prison populationThe reason for this exponential increase
is, I have no doubt, the vocal expression of opinion by influential
public figures that custody is an effective penalty. In contrast
with a decade ago, when the efficacy of community penalties was
widely canvassed, the emphasis has been on custody as the effective
disposal in cases of other than minor crime . . .
"The clear inference from the figures must
be that in the classes of case in which a difficult choice has
to be made between custody and a community penalty, magistrates
in particular but also judges have increasingly been choosing
the custodial option. If, so I regard this trend as a real source
of concern. In the first place, one is concerned that injustice
may be done, by the imposition of terms of imprisonment longer
than necessity demands. Secondly, I am concerned that such sentences
may in some cases be ineffective.
"No one doubts for an instant that in the
case of serious crime long sentences, sometimes very long sentences,
are called for. It is, however, far from clear that is the middling
class of case which I have been discussing a relatively short
period of imprisonment is more effective than a community penalty.
To the extent that it is not, the individual suffers an additional
penalty which is of no benefit to society. And then, of course,
there is the question of cost. The cost of imprisoning defendants
is enormous, and growing. It may be money well spent if it promotes
the objective which I mentioned at the outset, of reducing criminal
activity to the irreducible minimum. But it is money very badly
spent if it does not contribute to that objective."
5. The current prison population of over
63,000 means that this country has 120 prisoners for every 100,000
people in the general population, compared with 110 in Spain,
90 in France, Germany and Italy, 80 in Holland and Belgium, 70
in Sweden, 60 in Denmark and Norway and 50 in Greece. In the whole
of Western Europe, only Portugal jails a higher proportion of
its population than ourselves.
6. In a letter to the previous Home Secretary,
on 31 July 1996, Chris Scott, Chairman of the Prison Governors'
Association, described the effects of increasing overcrowding
as follows:
"Overcrowding leads
to poor conditions. Great advances have been made since 1990 to
improve conditions but, as the population continues to increase,
these improvements are put in jeopardyAs overcrowding increases,
prisoners are required to spend longer in their cells, access
to purposeful activity is reduced, prisoners are allocated to
prisons far from their home areas, cells are required to hold
more prisoners than that for which they were designed.
"As a result of overcrowding,
many prisoners are held in prisons at long distances from their
home areas, making it much more difficult for their relatives
to visit. Overcrowding also results in shorter visits, more crowded
visiting rooms and more limited access for prisoners to cardphones
in order to telephone their families. These developments can seriously
damage relationships with partners and children—a result
which punishes not just prisoners but also their families who
have committed no offence. Damage to families can also increase
crime: one American research study found that prisoners leaving
jail without family support were six times as likely to reoffend
in the year following release."
7. Over the last 12 months, the prison population
has risen by over 6,400—an average of over 120 a week. At
that rate of increase, it would be necessary to open a new prison
the size of Dartmoor every five weeks to accommodate the rise
without increasing overcrowding.
8. The Prison Service is taking a range
of steps to cope with the rising prison population. These steps
include opening new prisons, building new houseblocks at existing
prisons and speeding up the refurbishment of existing accommodation.
In January 1997 the Prison Service made a decision to buy the
American prison ship Resolution, which it renamed the Weare, from
New York. Moored in Portland harbour, it took its first prisoners
in July. Other sites which the Prison Service has actively sought
for temporary prisons include former military bases. However,
the process of trying to provide ever more places to meet the
rapidly rising prison population is like running up an escalator
which is moving ever more rapidly downwards.
9. In its General Election manifesto the
Government made a commitment to audit the resources available
to the Prison Service. This audit was published in July 1997 under
the title "Audit of Prison Service Resources." This
showed that the shortfall between the number of prisoners and
the prison system's "operational capacity" (ie the maximum
usable capacity with overcrowding) would rise to 1,600 in 1999-2000,
1,500 in 2000-2001 and 3,300 in 2001-2002. The Audit warned that
this would result in increased overcrowding; that it would make
it "extremely difficult to maintain adequate levels of constructive
activities for prisoners"; and that "without additional
resources the risks associated with management of the Prison Service
will increase and there is an increased prospect of the use of
police cells". On 24 July 1997 the Home Secretary announced
in a Parliamentary answer that:
"In order to ensure
that the Prison Service can accommodate the projected numbers
safely, it will be able to spend up to an extra £43 million
during this year and next. This will create 290 new places on
top of the existing building programme, and provide additional
staffing and funding for regime activities to support the placing
of an additional 1,830 prisoners in existing accommodation, 630
of whom are already being detained."
10. In the first half of the 1990s, despite
the pressure of rising numbers, the Prison Service improved its
performance in line with its key performance indicators. The average
number of weekly hours which prisoners spent in constructive activity
rose from 23.7 in 1992-93 to 26.2 in 1994-95. The proportion of
prisoners unlocked for more than 12 hours on weekdays rose from
24 per cent in 1992-93 to 40 per cent in 1994-95. The percentage
of the prison population with the opportunity to have at least
two visits a month rose from 84 per cent in 1992-93 to 100 per
cent in 1994-95. "Slopping out" was ended in April 1996;
no prisoners have been "trebled" (ie placed three to
a cell designed for one) since June 1994; and police cells have
not been used to accommodate surplus prisoners since June 1995.
Other welcome developments include the establishment of a range
of pilot drug treatment programmes.
11. However, as the Chief Inspector of Prisons,
Sir David Ramsbotham, wrote in his annual report for 1995-96:
"The most severe problems
facing the Prison Service are shortage of money, and the danger
signs that overcrowding and the associated evil of inactivity,
are doing real damage to all the progress that has been made over
the past 4-5 years."
12. From 1994-95 to 1996-97, the average
number of weekly hours spent by prisoners in constructive activities
fell from 26.2 to 23.8. In 1996-97 the Prison Service amended
its key performance indicator on time unlocked so that it now
measures the proportion of prisoners held in establishments which
unlock prisoners on the standard and enhanced regime for at least
10 hours per weekday, compared with the previous measure of at
least 12 hours. The proportion of prisoners held in prisons whose
inmates were allowed out of their cells for more than 10 hours
on average fell from 11.4 hours in 1995-96 to 11.0 hours in June
1997. The number of prisoners held two to a cell designed for
one rose from an average of 8,426 in 1994-95 to 11,386 in July
1997.
13. At the same time as the prison population
has been sharply rising, the Prison Service has been required
to make substantial budget cuts. Between 1995-96 and 1996-97 prisons
reduced their unit costs by 3 per cent, with further planned reductions
in real terms of 1.3 per cent in 1997-98 and 2.3 per cent in 1998-99.
Detailed decisions on how cuts are to be made in each individual
prison have been left to individual prison governors. The effects
of the cuts in Prison Service budgets include:
— Reductions in
staffing. A total of 1,134 members of staff accepted offers of
early retirement or severance. As it was older, more experienced
staff who were offered redundancy, this has reduced the overall
level of experienced staff.
— A reduction in
the size of prison education departments. Between 1995-96 and
1996-97, the time imates spent in education fell in 71 per cent
of prisons and young offender institutions. Nationally the average
weekly hours spent in education per prisoner fell from 1.8 hours
in June 1995 to 1.5 hours in the second quarter of 1997. The total
number of education hours at Highpoint prison fell from 194,600
in 1995-96 to 97,000 in 1996-97; at Albany prison it fell from
100,600 to 56,400; and at Wandsworth prison from 118,500 to 57,400.
— Prisoners spending
increased time locked in their cells. The Prison Service has amended
one of its key performance indicators which, from 1996-97, measures
the proportion of prisoners held in establishments which unlock
prisoners for a least 10 hours per weekday (not 12 hours as previously).
The percentage of prisoners held in prisons whose inmates are
allowed out of their cell for an average of more than 10 hours
fell from 70 per cent in 1995-96 to 60 per cent in June 1997.
— A reduction in
the level of constructive activity in prisons. Between 1994-95
and 1996-97 the average number of weekly hours spent by prisoners
in constructive activity fell from 26.2 to 23.8. The Audit of
Prison Service Resources (July 1997) commented that `the level
of purposeful activity provided per prisoner has fallen over the
last two years, and is now only just above the level achieved
in 1992-93'.
— The cutting back
of probation departments in prison. Seconded probation officers
in prisons perform a variety of tasks including making resettlement
arrangements for prisoners and running groups confronting offending
behaviour. During the financial year 1996-97, 38 per cent of prisons
and young offender institutions reduced the number of probation
staff.
14. Concern about the combined impact of
the budget cuts and the rising prison population was expressed
by a number of prison Boards of Visitors in their annual reports
for 1996. For example, the Wandsworth Board's report said:
". . . the effect of the cuts in the prison's
budget has become evident. The toughest effects were in the probation
and education departments, whose staff was cut dramatically, but
wings also lost staff. In particular, the Vulnerable Prisoner
Unit had its staff cut by 20, from 70 to 50There are undoubtedly
nuggets of real excellence in an otherwise unprepossessing environment.
In particular, the drug strategy is a fine example of what can
be achieved even in a physically forbidding place like Wandsworth.
But such achievements, though commendable and heartening, are
not enough to hide the very real damage which has been done to
the morale of staff during the past year by the twin blows of
overcrowding in the Prison Service and budget cuts. Prisoners'
regime has suffered as a result. They now often have far less
time out of their cells than was the case a year ago: there is
less association, less home leave and less education. All of that
makes Wandsworth now a more dispiriting place than it was at the
beginning of 1996."
15. The Swaleside Board of Visitor's report
for 1996 said:
"The closure of workshops and the cutback
and deterioration in the education department has created a situation
where during 1996 more and more prisoners spent 19-20 hours locked
in their cells. It has not been unusual for 50 per cent of the
population to be locked up on this basis. For a category B trainer
with prisoners serving four years to life this is clearly unacceptable,
damaging and lacking humanity."
16. The Pentonville Board, in a news release
issued on its 1996 report, said:
"Pentonville has one distinct asset, its
committed and energetic staff. But they are starved of resources
while being required to look after ever increasing numbers of
prisoners with reduced funding. The Board is seriously concerned
by the consequent deterioration of the regime in the prison. For
nearly 900 men there are workshop places for 120Large numbers
of prisoners are unemployed and have no way of fighting the mindless
boredom or preparing themselves for a better life on release.
Education was cut by 40 per cent during 1996, reducing the budget
to £180,000. This has meant the loss of 10 teachers and half
the classrooms."
17. In many establishments the impact on
prisoners on remand has been particularly severe. For example,
the 1996 annual report of the Board of Visitors of Feltham young
offender institution said of remand prisoners:
"Time out of cell was
limited to a short period for cell cleaning and two hours association
each day. Unfortunately, this was frequently cut to one hour and
occasionally cancelled altogether at weekends. The consequent
long periods of solitary confinement were particularly deplored
in relation to juveniles."
18. The combination of a rapidly rising
prison population and budget cuts is damaging prison regimes and
has thrown hard won improvements into reverse. In many prisons
overcrowding is worsening, prisoners are being confined to their
cells for longer periods, and education and other constructive
activities are being cut. Resources which should be devoted to
improving regimes are instead being spent on measures to expand
the prison system.
B. COMMUNITY
SUPERVISION
19. Much of the recent public discussion
concerning the ability of custodial and community sentences to
reduce reoffending has been crude and driven by a desire to "prove"
that a high use of imprisonment can cut crime rates. An example
occurred in March 1997 when the Home Office published new reconviction
figures following prison and community sentences. (Home Office
Statistical Bulletin No. 5/97, "Reconvictions of Prisoners
Discharged from Prison in 1993, England and Wales" and No.
6/97, "Reconvictions of Those Commencing Community Penalties
in 1993, England and Wales".) These showed that 53 per cent
of prisoners released in 1993 were reconvicted within two years,
whereas reconviction rates were 52 per cent for offenders given
community service orders, 60 per cent for probation orders and
61 per cent for combination orders. These were seized on by some
commentators as "proof that prison works".
20. Yet closer analysis shows that these
figures cannot be regarded as proof that "prison works".
First, the bald reconviction figures include "pseudo-reconvictions"—namely,
convictions after beginning a probation or community service order
for offences committed before the order started. These obviously
cannot be attributed to the effects or otherwise of the order.
When pseudo-reconvictions are eliminated, the true reconviction
figures after probation and community service come down by six
to seven percentage points whereas post-prison reconviction rates
drop by just two per cent.
21. Secondly, a greater proportion of those
given community sentences are young offenders, whose reconviction
rates are normally higher than those of adults. A striking 75
per cent of males under 21 and 89 per cent of those under 17 are
reconvicted within two years of leaving penal establishments.
Similarly, the reoffending rates of young offenders given community
service are twice as high as those of offenders aged30 and over.
Some previous national and local research studies have allowed
both for "pseudo-reconvictions" and for the differing
likelihood of reoffending by different groups of offenders. These
have found thatex-prisoners' reoffending is broadly in line with
their predicted reconviction rates, while fewer offenders than
predicted reoffend after probation and community service orders.
22. Thirdly, and most important, the overall
figures conceal the fact that, according to a growing and now
extensive body of research, some types of community supervision
can reduce reoffending by between 10 and 50 per cent more than
other types of work with offenders. These include a range of highly
focused programmes which confront and change anti-social attitudes
and offending behaviour, teach offenders to restrain aggressive
and impulsive behaviour, confront offenders with the impact of
their crimes on victims, tackle alcohol and drug problems, and
provide skills training and employment. Effective programmes have
been developed for different groups of offenders including those
convicted of aggressive offences, stealing, autocrime, sexual
offences, drink-driving and firesetting.
23. Research indicates that these programmes
produce better results when carried out in the community than
in custody; but that they can also produce reductions in reoffending
on release when applied in prison settings. (Much of the evidence
is usefully summarised in "What Works; Reducing Reoffending"
ed James McGuire, John Wiley, 1995). The features associated with
effective programmes include:
— that the programme
directly focuses on the offending behaviour rather that adopting
a more diffuse and general counselling or casework approach;
— that it incorporates
"cognitive-behavioural" methods, which have emerged
as a particularly effective approach; these teach offenders to
think through the consequences of their actions and to acknowledge
the effects of their actions on others;
— that it is "multi-modal"
(ie it recognises a variety of offenders' problems) and includes
a range of skills training including problem-solving approaches,
coping and social skills, moral reasoning and training in self-control.
24. A review of the available research published
last year by the Home Office concluded that:
". . . the available research on juvenile
and adult offender programmes points to a broad consensus as to
the types of approach which achieve the greatest impact on offending
behaviour (expressed in terms of experimental studies achieving
lower reconviction rates than controls). Those which combine cognitive-behavioural
techniques with the other success factors identified (targetting,
structured approaches, programme integrity) appear to offer the
best chance of reducing rates of recidivismWhile some forms of
intervention are associated with fairly large reductions in recidivism,
those based on the use of punitive measures actually appear to
increase the chances of reoffending." (Home Office Research
Study 171, "Changing offenders' attitudes and behaviour:
what works?" 1997).
25. Some examples of recently published
research findings include:
— An extensive
large research study by the Correctional Service of Canada followed
up 4,072 offenders who either completed cognitive skills training
between 1990 and 1994, or were assessed as eligible but randomly
assigned to a waiting list and did not receive such training.
This found that those who completed cognitive skills programmes
in prison had 20 per cent fewer reconvictions than their control
group, and that those completing community-based cognitive skills
programmes had 66 per cent fewer reconvictions than a control
group. (Correctional Service of Canada, "The Impact of
Cognitive Skills Training on Post-Release Supervision among Canadian
Federal Offenders", 1996).
— Research over
a six year period by Colin Roberts of Oxford University into a
programme run by Hereford and Worcester Probation Service for
young adult offenders found that the project group had 16 per
cent fewer reconvictions within two years than a similar group
sentenced to youth custody. The programme incorporated "multi-modal"
methods and cognitive-behavioural work of a kind which has been
associated with a substantial reduction in reconviction in other
studies. The programme achieved particularly good results with
persistent burglars.
— A synthesis of
the results of a number of research studies has found that employment-focused
programmes for offenders run by statutory services which enable
participants to secure real jobs, achieve average reductions in
offending of 35 per cent. (M W Lipsey in "Meta-Analysis
for Explanation: A Casebook", Russell Sage, 1992).
— A research study
by the Inner London Probation Service comparing the reconviction
rate of persistent taking and driving away offenders who attended
the Ilderton Motor Project with a comparison group of similar
offenders found that the reconviction rate of the Ilderton attenders
after three years was 38 per cent lower than that of the comparison
group. (John Wilkinson and David Morgan, "The Impact of
Ilderton Motor Project on Motor Vehicle Crime and Offending",
Inner London Probation Service, 1995).
— Research by the
University of Liverpool into the Merseyside Probation Service's
Car Offender Project found that 24 per cent of participants were
reconvicted within a 12 month follow-up period. In comparison
a national Home Office study had found that 43 per cent of all
such offenders were reconvicted within a similar period. (Barry
Goldson, "Challenging Car Crime in the Community",
Merseyside Probation Service, 1996).
— A recent study
which assessed the effects of "multi-systemic therapy"—an
approach which directly addresses personal (including cognitive),
family, peer group and school-related factors associated with
adolescent offending—on juvenile offenders aged 12 to 17
found that after a four year follow up period, 22 per cent of
participants had been reconvicted. This was less than one-third
the rate (71 per cent) for a comparable group given conventional
individual therapy. (C M Bourdin and others, "Multi-Systemic
Treatment of Serious Juvenile Offenders", Journal of Consulting
and Clinical Psychology, Vol 63, No 4, 1995).
— A study by Dr
Mark Umbreit of the University of Minnesota of 3,142 juvenile
offenders referred to victim-offender mediation projects in four
American cities found that 18 per cent of offenders who participated
in such mediation reoffended compared with 27 per cent of similar
offenders who did not. (M Umbreit, "Victim Meets Offender",
Criminal Justice Press, New York 1994).
— A research study
sponsored by the Scottish Office and Home Office of court-ordered
re-education programmes for men convicted of domestic violence
found that 33 per cent of men participating in the programmes
had committed a violent act against their partner during a 12
month follow-up period, in comparison with 75 per cent of men
who received other sentences. (Home Office Research Findings No
46, "Re-education Programmes for Violent Men—An
Evaluation", 1996).
— A Home Office
research study of seven community-based treatment programmes for
sex offenders found that after two years the rate of reconviction
for sexual offences of offenders participating in the programmes
was around half that of a sample of sex offenders placed on probation
without such a treatment programme. (Home Office Research Findings
No 45, "Does Treating Sex Offenders Reduce Reoffending?",
1996).
— A rigorous and
large-scale outcome study of drug treatment commissioned by California's
Department of Alcohol and Drug Programmes was published in 1994.
This followed up a sample of 1,850 people who had participated
in drug treatment programmes. The results indicated that there
was a cost benefit averaging a return of seven dollars for every
dollar spent on treatment programmes. The researchers calculated
that the total cost of treating the 150,000 people participating
in drug treatment programmes in California in 1992 was $209 million,
while the cost benefits during treatment and in the first year
afterwards were worth approximately $1.5 billion in savings to
tax-paying citizens. The largest savings were due to reductions
in crime: the level of criminal activity declined by two-thirds
from before treatment to after treatment. ("Evaluating Recovery
Services: the California Drug and Alcohol Treatment Assessment",
California Department of Alcohol and Drug Programmes, 1994.) The
United States' 1996 National Treatment Improvement Evaluation
Study found that there was a reduction in drug use of about 50
per cent in the year following treatment and that arrests had
declined from 48.2 per cent to 17.2 per cent comparing the year
before and after treatment. (Center for Substance Abuse Treatment,
"The National Treatment Improvement Evaluation Study,
Preliminary Report—The Persistent Effects of Substance Abuse
Treatment—One Year Later", US Department of Health
and Human Services, 1996).
— In this country
the National Treatment Outcomes Study, funded by the Department
of Health, has followed 1,100 people who entered drug treatment
programmes between March and July 1995. Most were long-term heroin
users with an average of nine years' use of heroin. 664 had recently
been involved in criminal activity: between them they had committed
more than 70,000 crimes in the three months before treatment.
Initial results, based on the first month in treatment for residential
and methadone programmes and two-month post-treatment interviews
for in-patient units, found that both drug and criminal activity
had dropped substantially during the early stages of treatment.
The proportion using heroin fell from 54 per cent to 0 per cent
in residential programmes; from 77 per cent to 44 per cent in
methadone maintenance programmes; from 90 per cent to 35 per cent
in methadone reduction programmes; and from 69 per cent to 43
per cent after treatment in inpatient units. Similar levels of
improvement were found for other drugs. The proportion involved
in shoplifting (one of the most frequent crimes committed before
treatment) fell from 34 per cent to 5 per cent in residential
programmes; from 36 per cent to 19 per cent in methadone maintenance
programmes; from 36 per cent to 21 per cent in methadone reduction
programmes; and from 26 per cent to 11 per cent following treatment
in in-patient units. (Department of Health, "The National
Treatment Outcome Research Study: Summary of the Project, the
Clients, and Preliminary Findings", 1996).
26. As Andrew Underdown, Assistant Chief
Probation Officer for Greater Manchester, observed in his paper
"Effectiveness of Community Supervision: Performance and
Potential" (Greater Manchester Probation Service, 1995):
"Specific findings on
British community sentence programmes and larger-scale meta-analysis
of worldwide research point in the same direction—that structured
supervision programmes of well-focused typescan achieve quite
large reductions in offending. Programmes which achieve these
high levels of impact are only available for a fairly small proportion
of offenders made subject to community sentences today. Probation
services are strenuously involved in seeking to develop new programmes,
and bring their present programmes and practice in line with the
way the research base points."
27. A rational strategy for reducing reoffending
would involve developing plans to extend the most effective forms
of community supervision to many more offenders, including many
of the less serious offenders who are currently imprisoned. We
support the proposal made by NACRO for a "national curriculum"
of the most effective programmes, based on research into what
works, which should be available to courts in all areas of the
country. This could be accompanied by a national system of accreditation
of supervision programmes which meet specified standards.
28. By relieving prisons of offenders who
could suitably be dealt with by effective community supervision
programmes, such an approach would enable the Prison Service to
provide programmes based on similar principles for a higher proportion
of those held in custody, thereby improving the prospects for
reducing reoffending on release. This approach would therefore
help to increase the effectiveness both of community supervision
and of prison regimes.
2 February 1998
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