Labour’s proposals are fiddling while the prison estate burns

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/feb/25/labour-proposals-fiddling-while-prison-estate-burns

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Your interview with Jenny Chapman, the shadow prisons minister (25 February) was as illuminating for what she didn’t say as for what she did. There are some welcome suggestions, including bringing in health, local authority and voluntary-sector links to improve managing prisons and keeping governors in post for a bit longer. But these are fiddling while the prison estate burns.

There are two significant challenges for any incoming government. First, in order merely to keep overcrowding to its current level we would need to build a new prison every month because the population is rising so fast. A government has to get a grip on reducing the unnecessary use of prison and the key question for politicians is how are they going to do this?

Second, now that so much of the justice system has been handed to the private sector, contract management has to be made robust. Commissioning is an expensively bureaucratic system as it has to be overseen by experts to make sure that the pressure to make a profit does not lead to corruption, mendacity and poor services. This means strengthening the contract oversight and the fraud investigations. The Serious Fraud Office has been dilatory in its investigation of alleged fraud on the tagging contracts and this small government office has to be strengthened and made fit for purpose.

Prisons cannot work for the public good if they are grossly overcrowded. They should be used only for people who have committed serious and violent crimes and they should be purposeful so that people lead a good life inside and on return to the community.Frances CrookChief executive, The Howard League for Penal Reform