Jail is not working, warns Gauke
Prison should give inmates hope, says Justice Secretary – on day new figures show sharp increase in crime
PRISON should “change the lives” of criminals instead of being used solely as a tool for “punishment” and “retribution”, the Justice Secretary says today. David Gauke says that inmates should be given “hope” to help rehabilitate them and to stop the cycle of reoffending, as figures show 60 per cent of those handed short sentences go on to commit more crimes when they are released.
He issues the warning as new figures show crime is rising and police claim they cannot cope because of shrinking officer numbers.
Knife crime offences have risen by 16 per cent to the highest level recorded, while the number of murders has risen by 12 per cent and robberies were up by almost a third, according to police- recorded crime figures published yesterday. Mr Gauke’s vision marks a sharp departure from the traditional tough justice approach favoured by previous Tory justice secretaries, but he believes he has the backing of most of his party and the country to change the way criminals are treated.
In an interview with The Daily Telegraph the Justice Secretary says that while hardened criminals should still be sent to jail for years, short sentences of under 12 months should be used only in extreme circumstances because they do not work. Mr Gauke says “society would be stronger” if prisoners can integrate rather than go back to criminal behaviour once released and the best way to do that is give inmates more responsibility and “carrots” as well as “sticks” while they are inside.
He cites a prison governor handing out “well done” notes to inmates to encourage them to behave as an example to others, adding that privileges should be used to give prisoners something to work towards.
It is 25 years since Michael Howard told his party “prison works”, but for short sentences at least Mr Gauke says this is no longer the case. Instead he urges his party to reconsider prison in the way it has reconsidered welfare, and warns that locking more people up is no longer the answer. He admits he expects to be challenged on the bold proposals by members of his own party and says he welcomes opposition and the chance to make his case.
Mr Gauke, who was appointed Justice Secretary earlier this year, says the “best thing for society” is to stop re-offending and says he has been “pleasantly surprised” at how the mood on prisons has changed among Conservatives. However, his department has faced the biggest budget cuts of any in Whitehall and he admits he will struggle to continue without more money unless changes are made.
He added: “Colleagues from all parts of the Conservative Party, not every colleague, but most of my colleagues from all parts of the Conservative Party say this is the right approach – we have got to focus on rehabilitation.”
David Gauke has never spent a night in police cells, but his father has – albeit on the other side of the bars, as a policeman, when the Justice Secretary was growing up. Perhaps it was this formative experience that gave him a different perspective on issues like crime and punishment from some of his Conservative colleagues, areas that Mr Gauke now controls.
He has been testing the boundaries of his party on issues like prison since he took office earlier this year. In the last few months he has championed a policy to halt expansion of women’s prisons and focus instead on drug and alcohol programmes, counselling and support for victims of domestic violence.
He believes inmates do best when they have something to work towards, and hails the example of a prison governor who handed out a “well done” note to an inmate to encourage good behaviour. Prisons, he says, should change lives and not focus solely on retribution.
But Mr Gauke faces a challenge. Crime is rising, and thousands of people are behind bars in prisons which Peter Clarke, the chief inspector of prisons, has denounced as dirty, unsafe and full of men with mental health and drug abuse issues.
In many cases young adults are locked up for weeks at a time, only to reoffend when they are released, the result of a life of disruption caused by short-term prison stays.
His department has suffered the deepest budget cuts of any in Whitehall, despite being responsible for some of the more sensitive areas of policy. “There’s no doubt budgets are tight”, he concedes, adding: “If we were to continue to see increases in the prison population in the way we saw them from 1993 to 2008 … then we will really struggle.”
Despite that, Mr Gauke has a plan to shift his party’s thinking on prisons towards rehabilitation.
“In some cases, particularly for short sentences, I think prison should be used as a last resort, because it doesn’t help reduce reoffending,” he says. “It’s disruptive for the offenders but not in a way that helps them to rehabilitate. And it’s disruptive to prisons, takes huge amounts of officer time dealing with people coming in and out of prison, when that time would be better devoted to rehabilitating those who are in prison for a longer period of time.”
Sentences of less than 12 months should only be used in the worst cases, and community programmes should be favoured instead, with an emphasis on employment to help people find alternatives to crime, he adds.
Prisoners should be given hope, an idea that helps explain his decision to install more telephones inside cells, although he stops short of supporting calls for prisoners to be given the vote.
It is clear that, despite the mountain of challenges he faces, Mr Gauke is determined to change the way Britain thinks about prisons. He speaks optimistically about it but before he can convince the public, he will have to persuade his party to abandon its traditional and historic belief that “prison works”.
A quarter of a century has passed since Michael Howard coined that now famous phrase in a conference speech in 1993, and it is notable that the Justice Secretary references the year as the start of a dramatic increase in the number of people being put behind bars.
The party has come a long way since then, but hailing a fall in prison numbers remains controversial, especially when crime is rising and police are struggling to cope.
But Mr Gauke is convinced the mood has changed, although he acknowledges that not everyone would agree.
“There are cases where the best thing for society is that we can stop the individual reoffending,” he says.
“That brings down crime. And that’s what we need to be focused on doing.
“And I am pleasantly surprised – I think the mood has changed. Colleagues from all parts of the Conservative party – not every colleague, but most of my colleagues – say that this is the right approach, that we have got to focus on rehabilitation.”
The public are onside too, he believes, citing employers like Timpson and Greggs which now actively seek out ex-prisoners to employ in their shops. This, he is convinced, has helped influence
‘For short sentences, I think prison should be used as a last resort, because it doesn’t help reduce reoffending’
people’s views. He is struck by a “recognition that there are people who find themselves in prison for whatever reason, and society would be stronger if, when they are released, they are able to integrate back into society”, he says. To do that there should be “sticks but also carrots” to encourage them to move away from crime.
“If you behave well there are privileges that you can get – but they are privileges”, he says, “they’re not entitlements, and they can be taken away if you don’t behave well.”
Money remains tight and there are pressing problems with drug and alcohol abuse and a lack of respect for prison staff which puts people off.
He admits his department “has to get the basics right”, hinting that it perhaps hasn’t got there yet.
A Channel 4 documentary shown last night shocked the Justice Secretary into acknowledging drug trafficking and abuse in prison must be a top priority.
But his answer lies in employment and persuading more companies to focus their recruitment on former inmates and help steer them away from a life of crime.
“A lot of criminality involves the same people”, he explains. Employers need staff – and prisons can provide them. He urges his party to think about justice in the same way it now does about welfare.
“For a long time the Conservative party gave the impression of not being terribly interested in the people who were on welfare and that we might just view it as a drain on taxpayer resources.
“And then, some years ago, we started talking about welfare reform and saying ‘well, we should have a system that gives people an opportunity to progress in life, that makes them more independent, that gives them the support they need to become more self-reliant’.
“I think there’s a similar argument with prisoners and rehabilitation. We’ve done really well in getting more people into the labour market, but we haven’t particularly done so well with prisoners. But if we can do that, and we can change lives … I think it’s absolutely the right thing to do.
“And yes, it challenges stereotypes from our opponents as to what the Conservatives are like. But I think that is something we should be doing.”