12. Memorandum submitted by
HM Chief Inspector of Prisons
1. I cannot comment on sentencing matters,
as these are outside my remit. I can, however, comment on the
impact of sentencing on the prison population, as evidenced during
my inspections of prisons. I attach a copy of my most recent Annual
Report, laid before Parliament on 30 January 2007.
2. It is somewhat dispiriting to read the
report of the 1998 inquiry to which this is a follow-up. That
inquiry records a prison population which had risen by 50% over
the previous five years, and had reached 65,000.[64]
It also records the comments of my predecessor, Sir David (now
Lord) Ramsbotham, to the effect that there were many people in
custody, particularly women and young offenders,[65]
and that prisons were unable to provide sufficient activities
for the growing numbers.[66]
Concerns were alsq expressed about ethnic minority prisoners and
those with mental disorders.[67]
These problems have, if anything, increased during the last nine
years.
3. In the three years that followed the
publication of the report, the prison population remained roughly
stable. But since 2001, it has risen by nearly 20%, and now stands
at around 80,000. It is accepted that many of those who enter
prison are mentally disordered, have limited literacy and numeracy
skills, and have used illegal drugs, or have hazardous levels
of drinking.
4. The women's prison population has also
risen by 16%, though it has remained relatively static over the
last two years. Additionally, there is a significant number of
women in prison whose extreme vulnerability on entry to prison
is exacerbated by the additional vulnerability generated by imprisonment—which
separates women from their children and carries the real risk
of them losing home, possessions and therefore children. The incidence
of self-harm among women in prison is one indicator of that vulnerability.
Women account for around 5% of the prison population, but for
over 50% of self-harm incidents, some serious and repeated. I
welcome the fact that Baroness Corston is leading a review into
vulnerable women offenders.
5. The number of children (under 18) in
prisons has risen, in spite of the Youth Justice Board's intention
that it should decrease. This, too, includes a number of less
serious offenders and vulnerable young prisoners. I understand
that the Children's Commissioner is considering whether to undertake
some work in this important area.
6. One matter that concerns me greatly is
the number of prisoners who suffer from mental disorder or a learning
disabiity. It is not possible with any accuracy to quantify the
number or proportion of such people. But it is clear, in every
prison that we inspect, that there are people who should more
properly be treated in some form of they peutic environment, either
secure or community-based. Estimates of mental disorder among
prisoners suggest that it is as high as 75%. Some of those people
will necessarily be in a secure environment. But others, including
those with severe learning difficulties, are casualties of the
decision to close the large mental hospitals without providing
sufficient alternative care outside prison. My Inspectorate is
completing a thematic review into menta disorder within prisons,
which is due to be published in September. I also understand that
the Prison Reform. Trust, together with MENCAP, is looking at
the issue of learning disability.
7. Though the quality and quantity of education
and training in prisons has increased since 1998, it has struggled
to keep pace with the expanding prison population. My annual report
records both the improvements over the last five years and what
still remains to be done (pp 35-37). The report itself covers
inspections carried out before April 2006. My introduction (pp
6-7) expresses serious concerns about the effect of the population
pressure in the second half of 2006: such as the fact that the
proportion of positive assessments of training prisons dropped
from two-thirds to half. Increasingly, we find that additional
spaces are not accompanied by sufficient additional resources.
This will be exacerbated if capital funding for the promised 8,000
additional prison places is not accompanied by significant additional
revenue.
8. The concerns that were expressed before
the Committee in 1998 therefore still obtain. Prison remains an
expensive Option: assessed at around £28,500 in direct costs
per prisoner place, compared with £24,000 in 1998 (though
the inclusion of capital costs is said to raise this to over £40,000).
In order to be an effective option, it needs to be used only when
necessary, and surrounded by a considerable investment in comumity
provision, both to provide alternative interventions for those
who can better be dealt with elsewhere, and support for those
who leave prison.
9. The Committee has asked specifically
for evidence about the operation of the Criminal Justice Act 2003.
I can only speak to the consequences for prisons. Ever since my
annual report in early 200, I have been flagging up concern about
the number, and the managemenit, of those serving indeterminate
sentences for public protection (IPP). There are currently 2,230
such prisoners. It is clear that they are not the very serious
and dangerous offenders envisaged when the sentence was first
mooted: one in five have tariffs of 18 months or less. Moreover,
it is reprehensible that there was no advance planning for this
group of prisoners, in spite of the-fact that their numbers have
grown slightly less than was projected.
10. This has been exacerbated by the fact
that the population management arrangements for indeterminate-sentenced
prisoners in general (including life-sentenced prisoners) are
considerably less robust than they were. As a consequence, these
prisoners remain for many months in local prisons, where they
are unable to do anything that would reduce their risk and increase
their likelihood of parole once tariff has expired. Their presence,
and frustration, in local prisons also increases risk. As I said
in my last Annual Report (p. 58) "The inability to progress
these prisoners properly through the system is both a casualty
of, and a contributor to, our overcrowded prisons."
11. A further contributor to the rising
prison population is the number of recalled prisoners, which has
risen by 30% over the last year alone. While it is clearly important
that prisoners on licence whol, pose real risks of reoffending
should be returned to prison, it is clear that thel, processes
and systems for providing full reasons for recall and therefore
I challenging such decisions where appropriate have not kept pace
with the rising numbers. As our short thematic report in December
2005 found
"The overriding impression was that neither
recalled prisoners nor receiving prisons were adequately prepared.
Recalled prisoners often arrived without sufficient information
and with limited understanding of their situation. Receiving prisons
often had little warning of recalled prisoners' arrival and struggled
to advise them adequately given the complexities of their legal
situation, the lack of adequate IT systems, and communication
failures with the release and recall section of the National Offender
Management Service.
"The process to review the appropriateness
of recall decisions was slow and complicated, and few prisons
had adequately trained staff to inform prisoners about their entitlements."
12. This, too, results in prisoners who
may have been recalled in error, or who need to address the reasons
for their recall as swiftly as possible, remaining for longer
than necessary in prison.
13. There are therefore a number of built-in
drivers to an ever-increasing prison population, without any assurances
of the kind of resources that would be needed effectively to deal
with those in prison, in order to ensure safe and decent environments
and to reduce their risk of reoffending. The consequences both
for humanity and decency within our prisons, and for public protection,
are in my view serious.
Anne Owers
HM Chief Inspector of Prisons
8 March 2007
64 Para 1. Back
65
Para 18. Back
66
Para 12. Back
67
Para 184. Back
|
