Open Justice
RESPONSE to PRISONS STRATEGY WHITE PAPER (7.12.21)
SUMMARY
On 7th December 2021 the Ministry of Justice released a Prisons Strategy White Paper billed as “A strategy to cut crime and protect the public with a modern, secure prison estate designed to rehabilitate prisoners”. Open Justice responded to the proposed policies set out in the White Paper during the subsequent consultation period, as did many other organisations and individuals. The tone and content of the Ministry of Justice response to this consultation (June 2022) suggests strongly that key concerns regarding the Strategy have been ignored or disregarded. Many of these concerns were raised in common by a number of organisations well-placed to understand the implications of Prison Strategy, including Open Justice.
Unfortunately, one of the key issues raised and rejected was the intended expansion of prisoner numbers. An ‘admission of defeat’ which several charitable and other organisations have pointed out runs counter to evidence-based attempts to reform the prison system and reduce crime. This lynchpin of the Prisons Strategy, now in place and being actioned, also runs counter to the Conservative Government’s own prior commitment to reducing the prison population. Notably, their stated intention to reduce the harm inflicted on children, families and wider society by the imprisonment of non-violent female offenders. This very clear commitment was set out in another Ministry of Justice White Paper – the Female Offender Strategy - published only four years ago in July 2018. The current policy of instead building more women’s prisons further reflects the Government’s continued side-lining of the clear recommendations set out in the Corston Report (2006).
The Prisons Strategy does contain some positive messages. Amongst these, the stated intention to:
Bring prison IT up to date and provide in-cell computers for educational purposes
Introduce family units to all women’s prisons
Put in place social workers on site in women’s prisons
Introduce a presumption in favour of enabling appropriate prisoners to work on licence
Move towards greater public transparency in respect of prison outcomes
Overall, however, the Strategy is retrograde, discouragingly light on detail and largely lacking any convincing evidence-base supportive of the policies set out. In particular, Open Justice is concerned that:
Expansion of the prison population will increase the very problems the Strategy needs to address
Many of the ‘policies’ set out are purely aspirational and cite dysfunctional mechanisms already in place
No reference is made to the effective alternatives to prison adopted in other countries
There is a very heavy reliance on building and IT development to address systemic problems
Little meaningful consideration is given to the currently parlous state of prison healthcare
There is a tacit assumption that prison is an appropriate setting for pregnant women
The same assumption is made in respect of people with severe mental/physical disorders
There is little exploration of why approaches to date have failed to reduce crime
We would be delighted to hear your own thoughts on the Prisons Strategy White Paper and on the attached Open Justice response to this. Irrespective of whether your comments are supportive or critical. Open debate around prison policy is essential if outcomes are to be improved for individuals affected by the system and for Society as a whole.
Dr Maria Leitner Karine Solloway
Silenced collaborators who cannot be named here for legal reasons but who continue to contribute to our critique of government prison policy from inside.
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