Norman Baker MP Member of Parliament for Lewes constituency
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Contact Norman at:
Norman Baker,
23 East Street,
Lewes,
East Sussex,
BN7 2LJ.
Tel: (01273) 480281.
Fax: (01273) 480287.
Email: info
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2003 (and previous) press releases
Lewes MP Report Highlights That Prison Isn't Working
Lewes MP Norman Baker has today published a report on the country's prison system in which he voices his concerns at conditions inside prisons and calls on the government to re-think its guidelines on the issuing of custodial sentences. The report follows last month's riot in Lewes prison - in it Norman states that current methods of using imprisonment as a method of deterrence, punishment and rehabilitation are failing to such an extent that we must now reconsider the very notion that imprisonment works.
Amongst its findings the report found that:
· 59% of prisoners are reconvicted within 2 years of being released. The reconviction rate for male young adults (under 21) over the same period is 74%
· Over half of all prisoners say they have a drug dependency problem.
· More than half of male and more than two-thirds of female adult prisoners have no qualifications at all
· An estimated 125,000 children in this country have a parent in prison.
· Around one third of prisoners lose their housing as a result of their imprisonment
Speaking on the subject Norman comments:
"We already know how desperately overcrowded our prison system is; simply building more prisons is not the answer when increasing numbers of offenders are receiving custodial sentences. I was then most interested in a report I received from the Prison Reform Trust which actually highlights just how small the effect of prison can be on reforming offenders. Clearly, for many offenders, prison isn't working and indeed, for many offenders, a spell in jail can do more harm than good both for themselves and for their families. "
"The government can no longer duck this issue and must now begin a fundamental re-think of its approach towards the penal system. In particularly we must address, through education programmes, the appallingly high levels of young people currently serving custodial sentences. It's also time that we started to take seriously the alternative punishments to prison; these can have a greater rehabilitative effect and come at a much lower social and economic cost."