A chance to treat the causes of crime

AT A time when there is no spare cash in the public purse, and schools and hospitals compete for funding, only the bravest politician would make the case for putting more money into prisons.

But the grim state of prisons across the country should be a concern for everyone. Even if the plight of young people who have found themselves on the wrong side of the law does not tug at your heartstrings, it is in nobody’s interests for former inmates to be turfed out onto the streets with an even greater likelihood of committing crime.

Keeping people locked up in cells for 22 hours a day with ready access to drugs will not result in rehabilitation.

Welsh MPs yesterday heard the concerns of Peter Clarke, the Chief Inspector of Prisons, and Elizabeth Moody, Acting Prisons and Probation Ombudsman.

Mr Clarke was quietly scathing about HMP Swansea’s response to recommendations and highlighted the overcrowding and availability of drugs. Ms Moody, in her written evidence, flagged up the extent of mental health problems in the prison population.

She cited evidence that while 5.2% of the population suffered from alcohol dependency, this was true for 45% of prisoners. And while 5.3% of people have a personality disorder, this is the case for two-thirds of inmates.

It has also been claimed that 50% of prisoners are functionally illiterate. These are people who need help and are often at risk of suicide.

Yes, a prison sentence is a punishment and we should not forget the pain and fear that criminals bring into innocent lives.

But just as a country that refused to provide medical care for inmates with broken limbs would be condemned as barbaric, we have a duty to address the mental health needs of people who themselves may well have been victims of abuse, neglect and crime. We spend tens of thousands of pounds incarcerating each inmate; we are squandering an opportunity if we do not help people escape addiction and gain skills which will allow them to have even a faint hope of finding work in today’s competitive economy.

In the near future we will see how Wales’ super-prison, HMP Berwyn, delivers results; and we can expect more controversy as to whether another large facility is built in south Wales. But we also need to think about how we prepare people for a life beyond bars.