Privately managed prisoner rehabilitation
A new scheme is being launched that will allow private contractors to rehabilitate ex-prisoners who have completed a short prison sentence.
One of the innovative features of the scheme is that private companies will be paid on results and receive bonuses if ex-prisoners do not commit further crimes.
Justice Secretary Chris Grayling stressed these radical new changes simply, “have to happen” and the scheme will lead to strategies that are more effective to reduce reoffending. Not everybody is so confident, though; prison reform campaigner’s say the new system cannot work.
The repeat offences rate in the UK is significant, with around half a million crimes each year being committed by people who have a previous conviction.
Under the current rules, an offender who serves fewer than 12 months in prison is not entitled to any statutory support when they are released. According to the Ministry of Justice, these ex-offenders are the most likely prisoners to reoffend, with 57.5% of all ex-offenders committing another crime within a year.
It is suspected that much of the crime committed is related to drugs offences. Drug related crimes are one of the most common reasons for imprisonment in the UK and it is thought that many the reoffenders are falling back into bad habits associated with drug abuse.
One way the private companies could reduce repeat offences is to help ex-offenders to overcome substance and drug addiction problems. They can achieve this through a combination of counselling and drug testing to provide ex-offenders with the tools to beat addiction, as well as help give a new hope for the future.
Support and guidance
Under the new scheme all prisoners who have served less than 12 months will be supervised during the first year of their release. The new system aims to be more effective by providing clear and objective support for offenders that will make a real effort to help them forge a new life away from drugs and crime.
Mr Grayling said: “There are so many victims of crime each year because we don’t provide any support and guidance to those who leave prison.
“What we are doing is creating, I believe, a system that will be more effective. It’s been criticised in the past that probation officers don’t get to spend enough time with offenders. We are trying to change that.”
Private partnerships
Currently prison probation officers are solely responsible for rehabilitation. Under the new system, private enterprises such as Sodexo and Interserve will work directly with the ex-offenders and courts.
The National Association of Probation Officers is concerned that private companies do not have the skills and experience to effectively help rehabilitate ex-offenders. Ian Lawrence told the BBC: “Our concern is that the task of doing this is being put in the hands of private providers with an untried, unproven record.”
Prison reform campaigners have said that they would like to see many short sentences scrapped completely and replaced with punishments that are more effective or rehabilitation.
A large portion of the prison population is serving time due to drugs offences and many are repeat offenders. A strategy that focuses on tackling the root cause of drug crime has the potential to be more effective that the old system.