Justice Committee warns prison system in ‘crisis mode’ as reoffending dominates crime

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A new Justice Committee report says prisons in England and Wales are too overcrowded and understaffed to reduce reoffending, raising fresh questions about confidence in the wider criminal justice system.

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00:00Prisons are back in the spotlight with the scrapping of police and crime commissioners.

00:05But what's the background for this? What are the causes of problems in the prison system and

00:10what can be done to change things moving forward? Well, I spoke to the experts to find out.

00:16I think I would dispute the fact that it's in a crisis mode. Yes, we've got massive issues

00:21around recruitment of officers, retention of officers, but also some of the outcomes in terms

00:26of, for example, prisoners being able to have access to education training while they're in prison,

00:33as well as reoffending rates. But I don't think the system is in crisis. I think this is what

00:38a neglected system looks like from years of ministerial neglect. Every minister has kind

00:43of kicked the problem of prison reform down the road. Now, you touched on the reoffending rates

00:49there. You know, they're reported as high as 80%. What factors do you see as most strongly driving that?

00:56So I think one of the things is short term prison sentences are one of the things that will

01:00increase reoffending rates. The disconnect is between education and employment on release,

01:05as well as having a place to live. What would you recommend in the short term,

01:11and I suppose in the long term also, for doing something about the prison system?

01:16So, oh, that's a good question. So I think in the short term, we need to think about how we

01:23de-invest from prisons and start to put that money back into local communities to build their

01:29capability and capacity, both to prevent crime, but also to support people on release as well.

01:36So I think that would be a fundamental shift. I think there's also the challenge which is around

01:42how do we create stronger links between education and employment? And I think there's also a question

01:47about the role of staff as well, short term, in terms of what are the levels of support,

01:52particularly around mental health and decompressing from what can be a very hostile and pressurized

01:57environment. But longer term, I think we have to have a question about what is the purpose

02:03of putting people in prison? And is it that we believe that it's a deterrent factor, which is

02:09clearly failing? Do we really believe that the loss of liberty changes behaviour? Or do we recognise

02:15that actually, if we're going to have better outcomes and benefits for society, we need to invest in

02:21people so that they can deal with their trauma, their mental health, as well as the consequences of

02:27other things, such as poverty?

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