Saed Jama’s Blog

Does Prison Work? August 15, 2008

Posted by sjama in Uncategorized.
Tags: Add new tag, crime in england, does prison work, prison
5 comments

Our society is abscessed with crime, it confronts as in our homes and on the streets, at work and on holiday, at home or abroad. The problem with crime is one of the biggest issues facing our society to day. We spend a large amount of public money through the police and person services and in the criminal courts attempting to control or at least to contain the problem.

The number of people in prison has risen in recent years up 80%; the prison system could be full by summer according to the prison Reform trust.

In January 1993 when the population of the prison system began rising there were 41,561in jail in England and Wales, the current population is 77,004.

And it has also been suggested that in prison whish reached 77,774 in October 2005, has been mainly influence by the 7^th July London bombings, and was the result of a harsher sentencing.

“Tony Blair, I think, took the views that labour had traditionally been seen as rather weak and washy about crime and repositioned the party”

This was the turning point for the prison system, by the time Labour government come to power the prison population increased to more then 60,000a increase of about 45%in five years.

And with the labour government, elected to be “tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime”

The prison population is expected to reach by 2010 a population of 90,000.

People in our prison system are from the most deprived communities, and most of them had no or little discipline or to much, most of them grow up in poverty, and insecure and have no believe in them self’s “At War with them selves, as well as society.” Most of are from broken homes and didn’t learn moral values from their parents.

The cost to keep a one person in prison is 40,992, and the Conservative estimate of the Annual cost of reoffending is 11 billion pounds. In 1992, 51 percent of those leaving prison refunded and were reconvicted. This shows that our prison system doesn’t work.

And it’s not preventing people from refunding more then half the crime in Briton is committed by people who have been through the criminal justice system.

At a time of failing crime rates, crime is still a major problem in our society and we should do any thing in our power to reduce it. But the solution should not be locking more people up. And if the prison population is high at a point were the government say’s crime rates are down in England and Wales, what is it going to be like when crime rate are up.

The prison system should do more then just house those inmates, as the number of those refunding is increasing for instance, we could pervade them same type of job training skills, and whish will improve the chance of them gaining employment. And help inmates become productive citizens when they are released. Alcohol and drugs are also connected to crime; The HMP Officers at Manchester estimated that 70 per cent of prisoners had a drug problem. And 80 per cent of these inmates did not get any treatment for their drug problem.

The prison system should also use other techniques such as consoling to help them beat alcolesim and drugs whish are related to crime.

I agree with the “crime and punishment extract” because I believe punishment alone will not prevent crime. Educating the parents to be more responsible and discipline their children at an early age would reduce crime. Most people who are likely to end up in our prison system are more likely to be uneducated and from poorer background. The collation between education and crime indicates to as that punishment is not the only solution to crime.

In today’s society, crime can occur at any time or place. A criminal can be any age or sex. But the most crimes are committed by people who come from impoverished environment, up on further inspection. The data indicate that many violent criminals are the product of living in poverty and a broken home. And outside the homes it’s argued that very little education currently takes place in our schools these people are then expected to play a roll in our society. With poor upbringing, poverty and bad education. As 52 per cent of male convicts and 71 per cent of female convicts have no qualifications are innumerate and 48 per cent illiterate. Before entering prison, these convicts were also unemployed and 32 per cent were homeless .this shows that these people have nothing or little to live in our society. And commit crimes for these reasons. And the growth of punishment and tough approach to crime has affected the most venerable people in our society. And putting more people in prison does not prevent crime or a secure society. It just makes the issue even worse and impacts on the most venerable and deprived communities in society.