Prisons: Not A Petty Problem
Prisons. They’re home to over 85,000 adults in the UK and it’s easy to think of them as the place people go if they do something wrong but in truth, they are far more complex and need some attention. Prison sentences in the UK can range from a few months to several years and can certainly be effective. The threat of having their freedom removed can act as a suitable deterrent for the majority of the public and the stereotype of prisons being a den of hardened criminals is usually found off putting to say the least but prisons are there not only to prevent crimes, but to punish those who commit them as well and it is the effectiveness of this that needs to be called into question.
The simple theory behind prisons is that if you have done a serious enough offense then you can be sent there of time which scales with the severity of the crime which, of course, makes sense. A murderer shouldn’t have the same sentence as a shoplifter — it’s common sense. And yet it is not impossible for someone prosecuted for a minor offense to end up spending their entire life behind bars which can be explained by the concept of institutionalisation — a word that is far too long but appropriately so considering the effect it has. When a convict spends an especially long time in prison, they can become used to prison life, to the point where they couldn’t imagine it any other way. When first seeing that description, you may wonder how it can affect petty criminals who are only given short sentences but when looking at the lives of ex-prisoners more closely, you start to see a pattern emerge.
Imagine two men walking down the road after finally being released. The younger man is ecstatic: excited by the possibilities of freedom, thinking of the food he can eat and the things he can do and only after three months of his original six month sentence. The other is also smiling, but it is a sad smile as he knows it won’t be long before he will be introduced to a new cell that will act as his home for another ambiguously long sentence. The young man will be incarcerated again too but he doesn’t know yet as he’s only a first time offender and isn’t aware of the struggle involved in reintegration.
The reason why the reoffending rate in the UK for sentences under twelve months is at 59% is because ex-convicts, despite having been released, are still labelled as criminals by the presence of a criminal record. Records are certainly useful as employers have the right to know about who they’re hiring but the non-descript nature of these records make it very hard for prisoners to get jobs as they provide no context to their crimes and never goes away which in a way makes every sentence a life sentence. Many released prisoners find it extremely hard to hold a job or maintain a house or flat and with very limited aid from the government, they may be forced to turn to crime. After all, you need food to live and if you don’t have any income to pay for it with then your options will be limited to hunting, which probably isn’t very easy for inner city men who are most often affected by this phenomenon, or stealing which is the option that is usually picked. And once an ex-convict becomes dependant on crime to stay alive, it is not long before they are caught and incarcerated again, and it can get to the point where this can come as a relief, especially with those who suffer from drug addictions.
This is because they end up becoming used to constantly being sent in and out of jail and in an effort to accept this fact they start to think of prison as a place where they can have stability and a
chance of getting better through tough love and while this is certainly what prisons are supposed
to be, it is not as permanent a solution as is commonly thought. The mindset of wanting to be in prison due to thinking it is the only place you can fit in and do well is the final result of institutionalisation; a mindset that is forced upon so many minor offenders. Some might say that this is a sign that prisons need to be tougher in order to discourage people thinking of prison as a lifestyle choice instead of a punishment — maybe longer sentences for smaller crimes will give criminals the wake up call they need to start becoming a law abiding member of society. But although, reoffending rates are lower on longer sentences, resorting to the dismissive solution of sending petty offenders away for longer doesn’t solve the real problem: it isn’t a matter of people not trying to adhere to the law after being released but the stigma surrounding prison and how this can affect them for the rest of their lives.
So how does this problem get fixed? The honest answer is that I don’t know. It’s the result of trying to make a system which can fairly and efficiently process every criminal and send them back out as a safe and thoroughly rehabilitated human being but making a system that does give everyone exactly what they deserve seems to be almost impossible. The judiciary system is such a fundamental part of society that it is hard to imagine it any other way but if the cycle of crime and arrest isn’t going to end then surely, it needs to change.
