Justice Reinvestment

The Justice Committee wants to hear about good practice. What has helped people that you know rebuild their lives after committing crimes? What schemes have worked well to cut re-offending in your area?

In replying, please remember that you must not include personal information that could identify yourself or others.

The number of replies to this question indicates a great deal, and should make the designers of our penal system have many sleepless nights.

However, there are some success stories. A prisoner in a North West Prison had been put onto a brick laying course and on completion of his sentence was released and went to London. Some time later he wrote to the instructor who had trained him, thanking him for the work he had put into training him and stating that he was now happy and working as a bricklayer earning a wage of which he was proud.

They do not ALL fail, but questions need to be asked about the RATES of success and what the KEY to this success is.

Quote:

Petronius
The number of replies to this question indicates a great deal, and should make the designers of our penal system have many sleepless nights.
However, there are some success stories. A prisoner in a North West Prison had been put onto a brick laying course and on completion of his sentence was released and went to London. Some time later he wrote to the instructor who had trained him, thanking him for the work he had put into training him and stating that he was now happy and working as a bricklayer earning a wage of which he was proud.

They do not ALL fail, but questions need to be asked about the RATES of success and what the KEY to this success is.

This is but one example of how important it is to invest in the people who work in our criminal justice system - there are thousands of other examples - and it happens every day.

Public servants see their work as a vital public service and they 'go the extra mile'. Prison Instructors have a really important role in tackling re-offending.

As a young person, the amount of young offenders is forever increasing and therefore i know alot of people,especially males who have been in and out of prison,but only 1 of them has managed to stay out of prison for good.He didnt commit any other crimes after release as he wanted to gain custody of his children who were put into care,in which he succeeded.He also became part of the church,he has stayed a member of the church and has risen in terms of status within the church,his children are also members,he now teaches younger males who are on apprenticeships,he warns them about criminal records what it can lead to and how pointless it is getting into trouble,yet he says that none of them seem to listen,they say they dont care if they end up in prison because its not that bad inside

This posting has been edited to protect privacy.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit was 2008:06:16:15:12:36 by Parliament Moderator.

As a matter of fact I do know one chap who escaped from the circle of crime and re-offending. He isn't in any way typical, but certain aspects of his situation throw light on the problem.
For a number of reasons he came to live a chaotic life, which included various forms of deception crime. He was given many "chances" by the magistrates, probation, conditional discharge, suspended sentence, fines, bans, all the usual half-way measures. Eventually a particular set of circumstances enabled a High Court judge to lock him away for a year.
There wasn't much in the way of rehabilitation. I think he found it useful to get away from society for a while, and he eventually made up his mind that he'd had enough of prison cells, and determined never to get locked up again.
It's fair to say that he had some help, in the form of a roof over his head, from a friend. Without that nothing would have been possible. From there on he put some hundred miles between himself and his previous life, and started out on the road of any job, better job, better accommodation, climbing the ladder again, and eventually acquiring, to some extent, the habits of a respectable citizen.
The example is untypical inasmuch as the chap in question had some A-Levels under his belt, and he eventually went to University, met his wife, settled down and had a family, and became reabsorbed into society, after a fashion.
Obviously there's a lot more to the story. The interesting part is that despite his best efforts, he could never, to his own satisfaction, gain back the ground he had thrown away. A combination of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act and the application form, together with the archives at the Home Office, stood between him and many of his preferred career choices.
But he found the ability, eventually, to muddle through. You couldn't say he was unhappy, and nowadays he makes no call on society's resources. He was lucky.

Quote:

Petronius
The number of replies to this question indicates a great deal, and should make the designers of our penal system have many sleepless nights.
However, there are some success stories. A prisoner in a North West Prison had been put onto a brick laying course and on completion of his sentence was released and went to London. Some time later he wrote to the instructor who had trained him, thanking him for the work he had put into training him and stating that he was now happy and working as a bricklayer earning a wage of which he was proud.

They do not ALL fail, but questions need to be asked about the RATES of success and what the KEY to this success is.

[color=#0033CC]It would be interesting to know the crime that this guy had commited.[color=#0033CC]

I am a former prisoner and two prisoners I was in prison with all succeeded on making law abiding lives for themselves on the outside. Sadly, one has since died. The difference in our case was a prison officer who went beyond the remit of his job and treated us as his friends. He lost his job for keeping in touch with us - as it is against the rules of the prison service - but without his empathy and support none of us would have made the transition from custody to community and criminals to citizens.

Positive role models and mentors who can look beyond the criminal label are needed in prisons to prepare individuals and help them with desistance - prisons need fewer prison officers and more pedagogists.


This post has been edited to protect personal identity.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit was 2008:06:23:09:39:23 by Parliament Moderator.

People are capable of change. Criminals are responsive to coming face to face with victims, and understanding the impact of their crime. Restorative justice works.
Most criminals who are caught are in need of assistance with accommodation, health and education. If these are provided in small scale, local units, the person is far less likely to reoffend.
Most crime is committed because drugs are illegal. Decriminalise all drugs (so that they are available on prescription) and there would be far less crime.
There are many forms of treatment for people suffering mental distress (drugs and incarceration are certainly the least effective); different therapies should be run in double blind trials to see which are effective.
People are individuals: there is no One solution fits all: we need many different options available.
Serious offenders can be changed by a short time in Sudan, Congo or Namibia (no more expensive than prison and certainly no holiday). Others can be helped by AVP, Meditation, Yoga, couselling, psychotherapy, diet, hypnotism, drama : there is so much available, so little is ever used.
The idea of punishment is the major block. Criminals who are caught should be seen as damaged invdividuals: deal with the damage in each individual case and the person will change.
The more prisons, and the bigger the prisons, the worse the problem will get.

I have no concrete evidence for this but I would say that daily moderated discussion groups intended to confront criminals with the consequences of crime both for themselves and for others should help a lot eventually. And councelling and psychotherapy and mentoring and life coaching. And meeting with victims too!

In my 16 year experience as a professional in the Criminal Justice system, there have been very few offenders that I have come across who have genuinely "turned the corner" as a direct result of the not inconsiderable help they have received in custody. I have seen a number of offenders who give up crime, but almost exclusively this was due to the fact that they have eventually woken up to the impact of long periods of custody on themselves, their families, children etc. I have rarely come across individuals who have any consideration for the direct victims of their crimes. If I am honest a disturbing majority of prisoners appear to have little remorse for their actions, especially amongst the under 35's.
Of course any justification individuals use to stop offending is a good one if it works, but I believe more involvement with victim agencies and the use of reparitive justice schemes will more ably focus the minds of offenders into perhaps eventually appreciating that they have done wrong.

I do not know anyone who has committed a crime and been helped to become a law-abiding citizen. But I read a few years ago with great interest the monthly columns in the Guardian by "Erwin James" as he came towards the end of his sentence and wrote of his experieces. I have friends who have visited in prisons and have spoken of the people they have met there who have gained from the help offered and who do feel their lives have been changed. I know it can be done. I get very depressed at the views of people who seem to feel that no-one who has once committed a crime can ever be honest or trustworthy in future. I cannot believe that peole are not redeemable and I know that lives can be changed. If we don't believe that what are we trying to do?

Re: Do you know of someone who committed a crime and was helped to become a law abiding citizen? What made the difference to them? The Justice Committee wants to hear about good practice. What has helped people that you know rebuild their lives after committing crimes? What schemes have worked well to cut re-offending in your area?

I am responding as a Trustee of the Prisoners' Education Trust. Since 1990, Prisoners' Education Trust has been providing learning opportunities for offenders in custody to broaden their horizons and to focus on a more positive life on release, whenever that may come. Our vision is that every prisoner has the opportunity to benefit from education. Our mission is to offer prisoners access to, and support for, the widest range of education and training opportunities, and to promote to policy makers and the public the importance of offender education. Whilst Prisoners’ Education Trust’s primary focus remains with providing funding for distance learning courses, over time the Trust has developed other projects which tackle key areas of interest, such as young offenders and offender learning policy, research and reform.

(1) PET runs a Youth Education Project, which offers men in Young Offender Institutions the opportunity to gain skills and qualifications beyond the basics, mainly through distance learning. These young men are some of the most unconfident and disaffected learners; the Project’s Education Adviser, offers them:
- Information about what is involved in distance learning.
- Ideas about the kinds of courses available and possible career paths.
- Help to apply for funds if they are unable to pay for the course themselves.
- On-going support with their studies.
- Advice and discussions with education staff about all aspects of distance learning.
- Mentoring - as well as providing one-to-one advice, the project has developed a strand enabling successful distance learners to help those who are just starting.

The Trust has developed a course to train the mentors which is now accredited. A pilot scheme in 2007 saw the course run in 4 young offender institutions and there are now 12 young people supporting their peers. The course is being rolled out in other young offender institutions this year and we plan, funding permitting, to extend the peer mentoring to adult prisons later in 2008.

(2) The Trust's programme "Offender Learning Matters" raises awareness of the importance of offender education as an integral tool in the resettlement of offenders. We debate the issues, provide information and keep up to date with what is going on inside and outside prisons.

Please see interviews with offenders, educators and those concerned with criminal justice, on PET website at [www.prisonerseducation.org.uk] for examples of the perceived effectiveness and impact of education.

The essence of incarceration is to subject the criminal to such deprivation that he/she becomes remorseful, and has given rise to the most appaling abuses over hundreds of years.

Yet although this simplistic psychology of complex, sentient beings is deeply flawed and only serves to exacerbate offending behaviour, it persists and continues to inform public policy. Since human beings are able to adapt to the most destuctive of environments, it should be clear that no amount of deprivation can automatically induce a moral change. Ergo prison does not, and never shall, make law-abiding amenable to prisoners. Law abidance requires a form of mind control generated from within.

Since pPrison does not work to reduce reoffending; it is time to explore the available alternatives. This isn't rocket science....

As well as the breadth of personal experience which is shown elsewhere in our response, Crime, Community and Justice Group collectively oversaw the creation of the Hampshire and Thames Valley Circles of Support and Accountability (HTV Circles) which has worked with 49 released sex offenders, mainly classified as being high risk, over a period of six years. The success of this restorative justice and community justice approach is that not one of the core members has been charged with any new sexual offence in that period. See three reports on their work at www.quaker.org.uk/circles.

From within our wider Quaker networks we also have experience of restorative justice schemes working with prisoners in prisons and the transformative effects on their lives.