Making prison work

In another blow for political correctness, ministers have omitted “punishment” from the first legal definition of the purpose of jail. The new Prisons and Courts Bill will say that institutions must protect the public, reform and rehabilitate. But the concept of punishment is missing. Critics warn that this will be a green light to governors to run soft regimes. The system is already in crisis. There have been riots, a surge in levels of self-harm and violence, reports of widespread drug abuse and prisons where the inmates appear to be effectively in control.

Sensitive reform is needed; better staffing has been promised. But it would be quite wrong to engage in any liberal rethink of the criminal justice system that would betray both public and prisoners. Punishment and rehabilitation are two sides of the same coin. Punishment does not, as the proposed legislation implies, stop after sentencing but continues throughout prison in the form of removal of liberty and rigorous discipline. These, in turn, help to rehabilitate prisoners by forcing them into education and preparing them for life in the outside world.

Ultimately, the prisoner has to come to terms with the fact that they have done wrong, the first step towards becoming a reformed citizen. But the present trend in law and order is towards asserting individual rights. Recently, the Court of Appeal ruled that even Britain’s most dangerous inmates can be given taxpayer funding to mount legal challenges against the terms of their imprisonment. The system is at risk of losing common sense and, with it, control. The Government should make it clear that punishment is part of what makes effective prisons work.