LONDON, UK – Experts and former professionals in the criminal justice system have voiced concerns about the overuse of prison sentences and the need for alternative approaches to rehabilitation, the Guardian reported Monday.
According to the Guardian, David Selby, a former education provider in Lancashire prisons, highlighted the issue of prisoner literacy, which he argued remains largely overlooked in prison reform.
Selby noted 35 percent of prisoners failed literacy tests, compared to just seven percent of the general adult population, indicating a serious gap in educational support, the Guardian reported.
Selby argued improving literacy should be a key focus of rehabilitation, yet the prison system remains too inflexible to address the issue, noting, “Questions to the justice minister might include: what is the literacy level of the current prison intake? How many prisoners are tested on leaving prison to check if their literacy level has improved?” the Guardian reported.
Former barrister Janet Carter highlighted the need for a more measured approach to sentencing, particularly for minor offenses, noted the Guardian, writing Carter proposed that offenses carrying up to 12 months of custody should be served as community orders rather than prison terms.
Carter explained that community orders, which can last up to three years, provide longer-term protections for victims through measures such as exclusion zones, electronic tagging, and curfew, while also addressing underlying issues like housing, employment, and treatment.
Carter, added the Guardian, emphasized prison should be the last resort, not the first, arguing rehabilitation efforts should be prioritized, telling the Guardian, “Prison needs to be at the end of the road, and not at the start. Rehabilitation is well worth the investment.”
Rob Wakefield, a retired director of offender management, criticized the government’s failure to implement the recommendations of its own experts, the Guardian reported, writing Wakefield noted that the causal relationship between social conditions and crime has been a core focus of government research for decades but has had little impact on policy.
Wakefield attributed this failure to political pressures to appear “tough on crime,” which has resulted in an increase in offenders recalled to prison for administrative reasons, regardless of the risk they pose, said the Guardian reported.
Wakefield also pointed, in the Guardian, to the success of integrated offender management, a program that brought together justice and social welfare agencies to focus on only the highest risk offenders—despite positive results, he noted the program was discontinued due to budget cuts following the privatization of probation services.
He criticized the justice system’s approach, stating, “It is shameful that politicians and inspectorates failed to raise these issues, instead kowtowing to management by objective—the objective to be tougher on crime,” the Guardian reported.
The calls for reform align with the interim findings of David Gauke’s sentencing review, which warns the current overreliance on long prison sentences is contributing to a crisis in the prison system, the Guardian reported.
Experts argue that a shift toward community-based rehabilitation and education is necessary to reduce recidivism and ease pressure on overcrowded prisons, the Guardian wrote.
