Make Justice Work

03.03.2010

Letters to the Editor
Put paid to young offending

In response to the report that prison costs six times more than Eton (Metro, Mon) – the increasing number of short-term sentences being handed down for low-level offences is one of the biggest contributors to our prison population. Resources should be diverted into developing the existing alternatives to custody that are proven to address the root causes of offending behaviour. This would not only help to reduce reoffending and costs, it would also free up prison places for those serious offenders who should be there.

Roma Hooper, director
Make Justice Work

Make Justice Work in The Telegraph

24.01.10

‘Prisons fail to make us safer in the long term’

The report from the Commons Justice Select Committee (Alisdair Palmer, Comment, January 17) underlined the unsustainable rise in prison numbers in Britain and the vicious circle of imprisonment and reoffending that this is perpetuating. Currently 66 per cent of sentences are for less than 12 months and the majority of those sentenced have committed non-violent, low-level crimes.

The Ministry of Justice has been tasked with finding £1.3 billion worth of cuts, yet, if the trend in imprisonment continues, new places to house these offenders will cost the taxpayer a further £3 billion.

Britain locks up more people than any other European democracy and the trends in our prison system now mirror those of America rather than our European neighbours. But even in America the harsh fiscal and social reality of locking such huge numbers of people up is hitting home. “Justice reinvestment” – redirecting money away from prisons to community-based programmes – is proving cost-effective in cutting reoffending. Britain must follow this lead.

The Ministry of Justice has several pilots and preliminary results are very positive, but it is only a start. The economic crisis has added a financial imperative to the moral one which has driven the need for reform.

Roma Hooper
Director, Make Justice Work
Baroness Gibson of Market Rasen
Lord Woolf
Former Lord Chief Justice
Lord Ramsbotham
Former Chief Inspector of Prisons
Humfrey Malins MP (Con)
Sir Charles Pollard
Former Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police
Stephen Bubb
Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations
Peter Tatchell
Lord Dear
Former HM Inspector of the Constabulary
Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws QC
Martin Narey
Director, Bernardos
Stephen Bubb
CEO, ACEVO
Simon Woodroffe
CEO, YO! Company
Claudia Webbe
Chairman, Trident Independent Advisory Group
Harry Fletcher
Assistant General Secretary of NAPO
Neal Lawson
Chairman, Compass
Charles Fraser
Chief Executive, St Mungo’s
Rob Owen
Director, St Giles Trust
Dominic Williamson
Chief Executive, Revolving Doors
Debbie Scott
CEO, Tomorrow’s People
Ashley Walters

Read the full letter here

Make Justice Work on Sky News

02.11.09

‘Scrap Farcical Two-Month Prison Sentences’

“Farcical” two-month prison sentences should be scrapped and replaced with tougher probation terms, according to ex-Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith.

A report on the criminal justice system by his Centre for Social Justice calls for an end to jail sentences of two months or less, and the introduction of more closely monitored community sentences with a stronger focus on rehabilitation and treatment for addicts.

Read the full article here.

Make Justice Work in the New Statesman

02.11.09

Former Conservative leader rails against “farcical” system

Prison sentences lasting less than two months should be abolished and replaced by longer, tougher community order penalties, Iain Duncan Smith has said.

In a speech to be given on Monday outlining a revamp of the justice system, he calls short-term sentences “farcical” as there is no evidence they reformed persistent petty criminals. He claimed they too often substituted for community orders that were “toothless” in their current incarnations.

Read the full article here.

Make Justice Work on the BBC

02.11.09

Call to cut ‘farcical’ jail terms

Prison sentences of two months or less should be scrapped and replaced by tougher probation courses, according to Iain Duncan Smith.

…

Make Justice Work, a campaign to abolish short-term prison sentences, urged the Tory leadership to take up his call.

Director Roma Hooper said: “In reality we should be aiming to follow Scotland’s lead and abolish all  sentences of under six months but this is a good start and a brave proposal from a key Tory think tank.

“Prison reform is often seen in zero sum terms but relatively small tweaks such as abolishing short-term prison sentences would have a colossal impact on improving Britain’s prisons and tackling the cycle of low-level crime blighting our society.”

Read the full article here.

Make Justice Work in the Times

21.10.09

Building prisons does nothing to reduce crime

Sir, Tensions between magistrates and prison governors over how to deal with offenders who are given short-term sentences add to the evidence that such sentences don’t work. Short-term prison sentences for low-level non-violent offenders are expensive, contribute to clogging up our already dangerously overcrowded prison estate and do nothing to alter the behaviour of these offenders. The public and our frontline criminal justice staff would be better served if money were diverted away from short-term prison sentences into robust alternatives to custody, which deliver greater value for money, are proven to be more successful at cutting reoffending behaviour, and would free up valuable resources in the prison estate.

This would shore up public faith in community sentences, give magistrates a real choice in their sentencing options and allow prison staff to concentrate on those offenders who are really meant to be there.

Roma Hooper
Director, Make Justice Work

Read this letter online here.

Make Justice Work in the Telegraph

08.10.09

Prison reform savings

SIR – Should the Prison Governors’ Association vote in favour of scrapping short-term prison sentences (report, October 6), this would be a major coup for rational reform.

The legislative system over the past decade has become increasingly geared towards locking people up without proper consideration given to the economics and effectiveness of handing out short-term prison sentences for low-level, non-violent crimes. Research we commissioned shows that millions could be saved if more offenders on short term prison sentences were diverted into robust alternatives to custody.

This would immediately reduce the enormous cost of our prison system, eradicate dangerous overcrowding in prisons and at the same time help cut reoffending.

Roma Hooper
Director, Make Justice Work
W1

Read this letter online here.

Make Justice Work in the Independent

Wednesday 7th October

The Big Question: How can we end the crisis in Britain’s overcrowded prisons?

Why are we asking this now?

Prison governors in England and Wales yesterday called for an end to all sentences of less than one year in a radical proposal to ease overcrowding. Paul Tidball, the Prison Governors’ Association president, warned ministers that cuts and overcrowding could lead to “widespread disorder” within the prisons system. He said: “Prison, the most expensive disposal option for the courts, should be reserved for those of highest risk to communities and citizens.”

Read the full article here.

Make Justice Work in Progress Magazine

Friday 28th August 2009

We need a more rational debate about crime and punishment

This week has seen the beginning of the usual banter leading up to the party conferences as well as the tendency to engage in political gimmickry (as seen by Chris Grayling’s reference to the Wire and Broken Britain). So the general public must be on their guard if they are going to be allowed access to any kind of rational, informed debate around those policies which will impact on their day to day lives, in particular crime.

Read the full article here.

Make Justice Work in the Times

Friday 10th July 2009

‘Lock ‘em up’ approach to low-level offenders must change

Of the people sent to overcrowded prisons by British courts, two thirds are given a sentence of less than 12 months, taking valuable resources away from serious offenders from whom the public need protecting.

The number of people receiving custodial sentences has risen inexorably in the past ten years – we now lock up people who ten years ago would never have fallen into the prison net.

Research shows that short-term prison sentences do not work. Reoffending rates remain persistently high for low-level offenders given custodial sentences, and locking them in cells is costing the State millions each year.

Although the Ministry of Justice has dropped the £3 billion plan to build three Titan prisons, six new “mini-Titans” are still planned at an even higher cost to the taxpayer. We need to stop locking up low-level, non-violent offenders on short-term sentences.

Instead, we must invest in more effective community-based sentences that help to pull those offenders back into society and away from crime.

Such a policy has already begun to take hold in the United States where there is a growing realisation that locking people up briefly is expensive, intensifies offending and does not work as punishment. In Scotland the ruling SNP stated its intention to phase out prison sentences of less than six months, replacing them with tough community sentences.

And, next week, the Transition to Adulthood Alliance, a group including virtually every significant justice policy organisation in Britain, will publish its latest findings, which will also call for a review of the policy of locking up any 18 to 24-year-old for less than six months.

But in England and Wales the “lock ‘em up” culture remains an intractable government policy. After 18 months of an economic downturn and last week’s spending review, it seems bizarre that, although other public services are coming under massive scrutiny, the Government is not willing to accept that short-term prison sentences are costing society billions each year.

We commissioned Matrix, an independent economic researcher, to undertake a study of one group of low-level offenders who make up a huge proportion of those who receive short sentences: drug users. We asked Matrix to study the cost benefit of locking up this group against diverting them onto robust community-based sentences that include intense drug treatment. The figures were astounding.

About 7,873 drug users were given sentences of less than 12 months in 2007, making up almost 10 per cent of the total number of offenders sentenced to prison that year. Our research suggests that society would have saved almost £1 billion had these drug-using offenders been given residential drug treatment instead of simply being thrown into a cell.

We are not calling for a root-and-branch change in Britain’s prison system. We are calling for a commonsense approach that is solvable and appropriate to the problem. We have evidence to prove that short-term sentencing does not work and that properly resourced community-based sentences do. Low-level crime is devastating to its victims, but blindly locking up offenders doesn’t give anyone a long-term payback.

• Roma Hooper is the founder and director of Make Justice Work

Tags: low level offenders, ministry of justice, overcrowding, prisons, Roma Hooper, short-term sentences, titan prisons