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Instead of a humane prison system, we’re getting jihadi jails Forget humane prisons – Liz Truss is putting penal reform into reverse
(about 3 hours later)
If Brexit means Brexit, then the Queen’s speech should mean the Queen’s speech. The government has acknowledged that the prison system is broken and we need to fix it. Speeches by David Cameron and Michael Gove contained a welcome change in rhetoric. Not all prisoners were to be regarded as dangerous and beyond hope. Redemption was possible, rehabilitation was to be at the heart of the system. For the first time in a generation there was consensus across the political spectrum that here was an opportunity for a true rehabilitation revolution.If Brexit means Brexit, then the Queen’s speech should mean the Queen’s speech. The government has acknowledged that the prison system is broken and we need to fix it. Speeches by David Cameron and Michael Gove contained a welcome change in rhetoric. Not all prisoners were to be regarded as dangerous and beyond hope. Redemption was possible, rehabilitation was to be at the heart of the system. For the first time in a generation there was consensus across the political spectrum that here was an opportunity for a true rehabilitation revolution.
There were still sceptics who felt too little was happening too slowly and that nothing could be done without the magic wand of an instant reduction in prisoner numbers. But Holloway prison was closed, George Osborne miraculously found money to replace decayed and failing jails, pilot reform prisons were established and moves made to give them a proper legislative function so that they could be rolled out further. Top-down micro management was being acknowledged as a key contributor to the mess we found ourselves in. We will only achieve safe and decent prisons if we train and support able prisoner governors who look out to the communities they serve, rather than up to bureaucratic systems.There were still sceptics who felt too little was happening too slowly and that nothing could be done without the magic wand of an instant reduction in prisoner numbers. But Holloway prison was closed, George Osborne miraculously found money to replace decayed and failing jails, pilot reform prisons were established and moves made to give them a proper legislative function so that they could be rolled out further. Top-down micro management was being acknowledged as a key contributor to the mess we found ourselves in. We will only achieve safe and decent prisons if we train and support able prisoner governors who look out to the communities they serve, rather than up to bureaucratic systems.
So far, so good. Reform groups had even begun to contribute to a constructive debate and be welcomed into a discursive mix in which Gove challenged us all to “dare to be different”, a phrase hitherto used as a threat rather than an invitation to change.So far, so good. Reform groups had even begun to contribute to a constructive debate and be welcomed into a discursive mix in which Gove challenged us all to “dare to be different”, a phrase hitherto used as a threat rather than an invitation to change.
Then came Brexit and we find ourselves in a political landscape that smacks of House of Cards meets Game of Thrones meets Dexter. A new prime minister and a new secretary of state for justice arrived, and we waited with bated breath: whither penal reform?Then came Brexit and we find ourselves in a political landscape that smacks of House of Cards meets Game of Thrones meets Dexter. A new prime minister and a new secretary of state for justice arrived, and we waited with bated breath: whither penal reform?
The portents were not good. The Acheson report concluded, to no one’s surprise, that the prison system had no idea how to handle radicalisation in prison. The extremist Anjem Choudary was sentenced, and we were told that building “jihadi jails” within existing prison perimeters would keep him under control and the rest of us safe. We don’t know how many such jails there will be, where they will be, how many they will hold, or where the money will come from for such an expensive venture. But more worrying is the response to what is a people-management problem: you cannot build your way out of one.The portents were not good. The Acheson report concluded, to no one’s surprise, that the prison system had no idea how to handle radicalisation in prison. The extremist Anjem Choudary was sentenced, and we were told that building “jihadi jails” within existing prison perimeters would keep him under control and the rest of us safe. We don’t know how many such jails there will be, where they will be, how many they will hold, or where the money will come from for such an expensive venture. But more worrying is the response to what is a people-management problem: you cannot build your way out of one.
Prisons are full of the strong-willed who will attempt to condition and manipulate the vulnerable and the frightened. They may be predatory paedophiles, peddlers of illicit drugs or merely influential gang members. Choudary is simply yet another manifestation of the many malign influences we incarcerate. Dealing with them and the threat they pose to the wellbeing of staff and prisoners is the bread and butter of managing a jail.Prisons are full of the strong-willed who will attempt to condition and manipulate the vulnerable and the frightened. They may be predatory paedophiles, peddlers of illicit drugs or merely influential gang members. Choudary is simply yet another manifestation of the many malign influences we incarcerate. Dealing with them and the threat they pose to the wellbeing of staff and prisoners is the bread and butter of managing a jail.
Our prison estate is already full of “units” – they are called wings, spurs and landings. And if the worst comes to the worst, we have a 48-cell prison-within-a-prison at Belmarsh and a smaller version at Whitemoor. Jihadi jails may allow us to bask in the warm glow of a security initiative, but they actually just bestow status and kudos on individuals that do not warrant them. They are also a distraction from the real issue of providing a safe and decent prison system that is as good at rehabilitating people as it is at incarcerating them in the first place.Our prison estate is already full of “units” – they are called wings, spurs and landings. And if the worst comes to the worst, we have a 48-cell prison-within-a-prison at Belmarsh and a smaller version at Whitemoor. Jihadi jails may allow us to bask in the warm glow of a security initiative, but they actually just bestow status and kudos on individuals that do not warrant them. They are also a distraction from the real issue of providing a safe and decent prison system that is as good at rehabilitating people as it is at incarcerating them in the first place.
But the appearance of Liz Truss, the new justice secretary, before an increasingly able justice committee has left many of us more than a little worried about where Theresa May’s regime is on prisons. She refused to guarantee that the government will go ahead with the prisons bill. Have we headed into reverse and on to the rocks where the system has languished for more than a decade? Has the former chancellor’s money for capital investment been diverted or already squandered? And has the concept of the autonomous prison governor withered on the vine with the absence of any legislative action to make it work fully?But the appearance of Liz Truss, the new justice secretary, before an increasingly able justice committee has left many of us more than a little worried about where Theresa May’s regime is on prisons. She refused to guarantee that the government will go ahead with the prisons bill. Have we headed into reverse and on to the rocks where the system has languished for more than a decade? Has the former chancellor’s money for capital investment been diverted or already squandered? And has the concept of the autonomous prison governor withered on the vine with the absence of any legislative action to make it work fully?
The problems in the prison system are well documented by a plethora of bodies including prison inspectors, coroners and independent monitors, to say nothing of reform groups such as the Howard League. There is clear evidence that the problems are getting even worse. Before we were overcome by the referendum result, it felt like there was a concrete plan A for penal reform, however embryonic and open to reasonable challenge.The problems in the prison system are well documented by a plethora of bodies including prison inspectors, coroners and independent monitors, to say nothing of reform groups such as the Howard League. There is clear evidence that the problems are getting even worse. Before we were overcome by the referendum result, it felt like there was a concrete plan A for penal reform, however embryonic and open to reasonable challenge.
If it’s still there, then let’s get on with it. If there is a plan B, then we should be told.If it’s still there, then let’s get on with it. If there is a plan B, then we should be told.