We are spending huge sums on jailing people. In fact, it costs as much to keep someone in jail for a year as it does to employ an extra police constable. Yet far too many prisoners promptly commit another crime when they are released. If prison simply acts as a revolving door for criminals, then our money is being wasted.
Overcrowded prisons are putting the public at risk. Some serious offenders are being kept out of jail because there are not enough spaces. Meanwhile, we have one of the highest rates of repeat crime in Europe.
And now the Liberal Democrats have discovered that some prisoners are being kept in court cells at a cost of £1,800 - costing taxpayers more than a night at the Ritz hotel in London.
Instead of Labour's record of failure, Liberal Democrats propose a five-point plan to make prison work. Our plan will:
- Cut crime
- Cut costs
- Cut reoffending
- Cut youth crime
- And make the punishment fit the crime
Sign our petition | |
I back the Liberal Democrats' five-point plan to make prison work. |
Five-point plan to make prison work
1. More Secure Mental Health Treatment
About half of prisoners have some form of mental health problem, while as many as one in ten are “functionally psychotic”.
Prisoners with mental health difficulties do not receive adequate treatment. These problems make it harder for the offender to live a law-abiding existence. By treating these problems, we can cut crime.
Liberal Democrats will divert the government’s planned £1.7 billion for more prison places to provide instead more secure and semi-secure mental health treatment for offenders. Providing people with the right treatment will cut crime.
2. More Secure Drug Treatment
Over 10,000 people are in prison for drugs offences, and drug misuse is widespread among those in jail. Three quarters of male prisoners admit taking illegal drugs in the twelve months before imprisonment, and half use heroin, crack or cocaine on a regular basis.
There are only 2,500 residential drug treatment places. Over a year, these each cost £6,000 less than prison. Residential treatment should be offered more widely as an alternative to jail for minor offences - which will cut reoffending and also save money.
3. Compulsory Training and Education in Prison
Offenders often go back to crime because they have little alternative, with few skills or qualifications: half of all prisoners are at or below the level expected of an 11-year-old in reading, two-thirds in numeracy and four out of five in writing. Prison education programmes are hampered by overcrowding and lack of places on courses.
We would triple the number of prisoners working, and make education and training compulsory. Prisoners will be paid around the market rate, and they will have to pay tax, national insurance and child support, will make contributions to a Victims’ Compensation Fund and make savings for their release.
4. Public Service Sentences for Petty Offenders
Short jail sentences of less than three months do almost nothing to divert offenders from crime - for example, more than 92% of young men on such short sentences reoffend. We would instead make more non-violent criminals, such as shoplifters, fine defaulters and petty vandals, do work in their neighbourhood to make amends for their crime.
To give the public confidence in these Public Service Sentences, we would make the work done by offenders visible, and to make the punishment fit the crime we would make these sentences last twice as long as the current prison sentence.
5. Punishments that Work for Teen Criminals
Far too often locking up children just sets them on a life of crime. Four-fifths of young offenders released from prison reoffend within twelve months and this rate is increasing. The best way to cut youth crime is a radical programme of alternatives to jail.
Those children who need to be in custody would be sent to secure children’s homes and improved secure training centres. We would roll out Responsible Behaviour Panels across the country. Offenders will be required to face up to their misbehaviour and engage in community work as reparation.
We would also expand the use of reparation orders, community punishments, and supervision orders for juveniles, and give all young people in custody full access to education and training appropriate to their age, equivalent to that available to other young people.
If you agree with our proposals, please sign the petition.