introduction to custody

Question 1

A brief history

Answer 1

• 16th and 17th C:
• Public events, aimed to shame and deter those who had committed offences! Ducking stool for witches, whipping, branding for thieves, and the stocks
• Prison itself was not typically used as a punishment, but as a holding cell for those awaiting trial or punishment
• These were badly maintained, with all ‘offenders’ held together

Question 2

Poor law and houses of correction

Answer 2

• Around the same time, the existence of ‘Houses of Correction’ began to come to fruition - aimed at imprisoning the poor for petty crimes
• From 1776 begun the use of ‘prison hulks’ shipping prisoners to America, Australia and Tasmania
• Due to the conditions of these ships – chained prisoners, hard labour and abuse during the sailings (plus the minor moral issue of sending people to a different country) this ended in 1857

Question 3

Early prison reform and new prison design

Answer 3

• in 1777, John Howard begun to raise awareness of atrocities within prisons and condemned prisons as barbaric, disorganised and filthy
• He called for reforms to include paid staff, inspection and proper diets for prisoners
• in 1791 – Bentham conceived the ‘panopticon’ which was similar to a clock design, with a central observer and wings radiating outwards – prisons remained this way for half a century
• The Penitentiary Act 1799 specified that ‘Gaols’ should be built for one inmate per cell and operate on a silent system (!) with continuous labour (!!)
• The 19th century saw the birth of state prisons with the first national penitentiary opened in Millbank, London and was mainly focused on labour activities
• in 1842, HMP Pentonville was built (still used today) and begun a rush of 54 prisons built in 6 years

Question 4

reform beginnings

Answer 4

• Reform was growing in popularity with religious groups promoting reform under the veil of personal redemption
• The Howard League for Penal Reform was also established in 1866 – beginning the work of a charity who remain at the forefront of penal reform
• The Prison Act 1898 asserted that reformation was the key role of prison regimes and established that prison work should be productive – who should then be able to have a livelihood

Question 5

20th century- closer to current

Answer 5

• Early probation officers came to fruition in the form of church societies who would take on released offenders as long as they accepted guidance and worked with the missionary
• in 1907, this supervision was permitted on a statutory basis and thus began the Probation Service
• in 1908, Borstal was created – allowing recognition that young people should have different establishments to adults. These focused on physical labour, technical instruction and strong morals

Question 6

1990 and the start of political prisons

Answer 6

• from the 1990’s, prisons became to enter the public sphere as a talking point amongst political parties with both Conservative and Labour parties employing the ‘prison works’ rhetoric
• Private prisons began to enter the domain and the numbers of people incarcerated began to rise, while conditions begun to deteriorate

Question 7

Themes throughout custodial history

Answer 7

• Throughout the history of prison as punishment, or at least involvement within the CJS there have been a few themes which have, despite time remained steadfast
• The most notable of these appears to be the fact that there has always been bad or negative conditions for those incarcerated
• However, despite these negative conditions, there seems to have been a consistent approach to reform and the protection of those incarcerated

Question 8

Current use of custody

Answer 8

• Deciding who gets sentenced to custody is not a case of finding a list of offences which automatically leads to custody
• S152 (2) Criminal Justice Act 2003:
• “…the offence is so serious that neither a fine alone nor a community sentence can be justified for the offence.”

Question 9

Sentencing guidelines

Answer 9

• “There is no general definition of where the custody threshold lies. The circumstance of the individual offence and the factors assessed by offence-specific guidelines will determine whether an offence is so serious that neither a fine alone nor a community sentence can be justified.”

Question 10

Custody expectations

Answer 10

• “The clear intention of the threshold test is to reserve prison as a punishment for the most serious offences…” (Sentencing Council)
• So, we can see from the combination of the law and sentencing council – custody is intended to be the most serious punishment for the most serious offences and therefore shouldn’t be used for anything else…?

Question 11

In this case?

Answer 11

• In 2016 there were around 10 custodial offences for minor driving offences such as speeding, insurance offences, careless driving offences and drivers refusing to identify themselves
• There are roughly 20 – 50 cases per year of people being imprisoned for not paying their TV license fees
• While of course, there are ultimately more people serving prison sentence for more serious offence – the fact that these exists highlights a failure in the way in which we sentence

Question 12

Over to you… who should we imprison?

Answer 12

• Regarding the following and considering the sentencing guidelines – who should be imprisoned?
• 1) Scott, charged with carrying an offensive weapon. He’s had previous convictions for GBH and assaulting a police officer
• 2) Jennifer, charged with theft for stealing £30 from her flat mates bedroom. She has no previous convictions
• 3) Amber, charged with burglary. She has two previous convictions of theft and one of a drug offence

Question 13

How many people do we imprison?

Answer 13

• As of Friday 10th January 2020, there were 82, 732 people imprisoned within prisons and young offender institutions in England and Wales
• Twickenham Stadium can hold 82,000 people

Question 14

Prison population

Answer 14

• Our prisons are overcrowded; however when compared to the same time last year prison numbers have dropped
• This drop is not sufficient, due to the fact that by the Ministry of Justice’s own definition, the prison estate should hold no more than 75,084 people
• At a level of 7, 648 people above the safe limit, there is potentially a limit to the safety which can be provided within the estate

Question 15

Custody as compared to Europe

Answer 15

• We are obsessive about imprisonment within England and Wales, and reports have demonstrated that we have some of the highest incarceration rates within the EU – second only to Turkey, despite our relatively small population size
• The average rate for incarceration was 146.4 inmates per 100,000 inhabitants as per the Europe wide average of 127.2

Question 16

So, what?

Answer 16

• Our massive differences in the way we imprison represent a huge variation in our attitudes to danger, society and rehabilitation
• Germany, France, Italy, Spain and pretty much every other EU country (bar Turkey) imprison less than us – but we don’t spend time in those countries worrying about what crime can befall us
• Do we imprison too many people? What about young people?
• Our age of criminal liability is incredibly low – aged 10, compared to 14 in many other countries. Is this important?

Question 17

How many prisons do we have?

Answer 17

• There are 117 prisons within England and Wales, as well as an Immigration Removal Centre and three Secure Training Centres (for children up to age 17)
• G4S and Sodexo run 4 of the 117 each, and Serco manages 5

Question 18

Categories of prison

Answer 18

• Prisons are categorized based on what their ‘predominant function’ is as an entity
• Therefore, there may be units within a prison which do not assign to this, but it is dependent on their entire use
• Trainer Prisons: Hold long term and resettlement prisoners (dependent on the category of the prison)
• Local Prisons: hold those on short sentences, those on remand, or on allocation
• Open Prisons: allow for education, work and training away from the prison
• High Security: a) Core Locals – those in local prisons who are dangerous and b) Core Dispersals – ensuring the most dangerous prisoners are not in one place

Question 19

Security categories

Answer 19

• Within these categories, are the more commonly known security categories which rate the security of prisons based on prisoners’ risk of escape, harm to the public if they did escape, threat to the control and stability of a prison
• These range from A – D with A being high security, and D being open prisons
• Prisoners categorization changes throughout their sentence and dependent on the length

Question 20

How do categories keep us safe?

Answer 20

• The combination of security categories and types of prisons allow the public to be kept safe from potentially dangerous offenders, while the types of prison allow offenders to be held in the correct institution which will allow for the best treatment
• Each type of prison has their own routine, rules, allowances, security, education and work restrictions – which allows custodial sentences to be ‘customized’ from the outset

Question 21

What about women

Answer 21

• Women are held in different categories to the men, and rather than four levels of security there are only two
• Dependent on their needs and risks, women are categorized in either closed or open conditions with those considered to be high risk referred to as ‘restricted’ meaning they can only be held in closed prisons
• In exceptional circumstances, women can be held in category A prisons

Question 22

The purpose of prison (according to HMpps)

Answer 22

“We keep those sentenced to prison in custody, helping them lead law-abiding and useful lives, booth while they are in prison and after they are released.”

Question 23

Rt Hon David gauke

Answer 23

• Justice Secretary until 2019. he spoke at the RSA in early 2018
• In his consideration, there were three purposes of prison that he felt were of crucial importance;
• Protection of the Public
• Punishment – and the removal of liberty
• Rehabilitation – and this should take priority

Question 24

What should be the priorities of prison

Answer 24

• Considering that those who are in prison have been charged with serious offences and David Gauke’s three main priorities – what do you think should be the main reasoning behind using the ‘sharp end of our justice system?”

Question 25

Privatisation of prisons

Answer 25

• HMPS control the majority of our prisons, but around ten of these do fall under the care of private companies – G4S, Serco and Sodexo – but why has this happened and is it something which should continue to happen?

Question 26

HMP Birmingham- 2016

Answer 26

• Following major disturbance at HMP Birmingham, lasting 14 hours and involving 500 prisoners, the decision to strip G4S of their contract to run Birmingham was made
• The decision was made due to staff shortages, and poor management which led to a failure in reducing the impact of the riot
• “high levels of sickness, attrition and disorganized deployment”

Question 27

Privatizing the liberty of humans

Answer 27

• It is important to note here, that privatization – as a whole is not always so dramatically bad, but with prisons…
• Prison is significantly concerned with the loss of liberty, a major human rights issue to contend with, and while legal is still difficult to manage
• Attempting to hire out this deprivation of liberty to a private company, in order to profit has led to significantly more damage than good

Question 28

Is it worth the better cell?

Answer 28

• Private prisons do generally, benefit from cleaner, and more modern settings with better cells, technology and the like
• However, the security concerns have raised massive issues as to whether the relative comfort offered by this is worth the harm done to those incarcerated within these prisons
• these contracts have been given out, despite major flaws by all companies in other security areas, specifically The Olympics

Question 29

what can you take to prison

Answer 29

• You’re allowed enough things to store in 2 boxes
• A stereo, guitar and legal papers
• You may be allowed the following:
• Books, magazines and newspapers
• Earphones, art or writing tools
• Watches, electric shaver, toiletries, wedding rings, photos, greeting cards, address books

Question 30

Day to day life in a prison

Answer 30

• A lot of time will be spent within your cell, with everyone who isn’t on basic privileges allows a small TV with no radio facilities
• There has been significant conversation surrounding a smoking ban, which Scotland has enforced – but for those who have not, you can smoke in your cell
• These days change every day, but the following is a typical day for a Cat B prison

Question 31

Cat b prison day

Answer 31

• 8am – Day starts for those in work or education, with those not involved locked back up at 8.30am
• 12pm - Lunch
• 1.15pm – Afternoon activities start
• 5pm – Dinner
• 6– 7pm – Association time
• 7.30pm – lock up

Question 32

Whats the food like

Answer 32

• Prison caterers have roughly £1.87 per prisoner for food, per day – YOI’s have significantly more
• Special diets are catered for including Muslim, Kosher, Diabetic and medical diets
• Breakfast is served in a pack given the night before including cereal, milk, tea, sugar, bread and jam
• Midday and evening meals are given using a pre-select system to allow prisoners to choose

Question 33

Is it as nice as the papers make out?

Answer 33

• Effectively, no
• It is no holiday camp, there are no xbox’s, flat screen TV’s or luxuries
• While admittedly, drugs, alcohol and smoking do exist – they are often dangerous and sometimes deadly
• Pretty much everyone is now sharing cells – and that could be with anyone

Question 34

The role of prison officers in the ecosystem

Answer 34

• Frankly, prison officers have multiple roles
• Their main purpose is to “carry out the instructions of the courts and to ensure that society is protected.”
• They keep prisoners from escaping, they do not have to keep them happy – but some do!
• There are also service providers within prisons who run education, training, healthcare etc

Question 35

Should we have prison at all?

Answer 35

• There is an emerging school of though, led by Dr David Scott which argues the idea of prison itself is not just harmful to those incarcerated but to society as a whole
• These arguments fall towards a more compassionate and novel way of looking at punishment – requiring that as a state we change the way we use our CJS
• it focuses on social inequalities, overpopulation, moral responsibility and a radical reduction within the both economic and social inequalities

Question 36

arguing for abolishment

Answer 36

• Those arguing for abolishment, although they may not have come up with an alternative for the prison space highlight the use of custody for the poor and mentally ill within our society
• The main alternative to the prison community would be the use of therapeutic or open communities, lending itself to the idea that those incarcerated suffer from greater harms than the offence they have committed
• before next week – think about this, what could we use instead of prisons?

Question 37

Arguing for reform

Answer 37

• Prison reformists on the other side, see the issues of prisons and use their platform and education to try and adapt and change them so that they can better serve both the people within and the communities they will inevitably return to
• ## Prison reformists are also generally, incredibly vocal in their beliefs in rehabilitation and education for the offender as well as rehabilitation for the prison system itself