Prison System in the UK - Essay Example

Prison System design in the UK In December of last year, 20 year old Louise Giles was found dead in her prison cell. The inquest conducted into her death concluded that her death was the “direct result of the failure of Prison Service officials and ministers to act on the clear warnings that there was a real risk of suicide unless action was taken.”(Morris, 2007). The findings also suggested that the incarceration of Louise Giles in a maximum security prison designed for men may not have been appropriate for her needs, especially in recognizing the mental health problems that she suffered from. Many women prisoners are killing themselves because they are unable to cope with harsh prison conditions and the Inquest Report on Giles’ death found that “Punishing women with severe mental problems by incarcerating them in such alienating conditions was cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment." (Morris, 2007). These women were subject to rigid punitive measures, without concern for their drug and mental health related problems; for example one women was formally punished after she was cut down while trying to hang herself.(www.news.bbc.co.uk). The number of women offenders in the UK has increased, in 2003, the number of women prisoners in UK prisons was pegged at 4500, registering an increase from approximately 1500 in 1993 and women now make up 6% of the population. (www.guardian.co.uk). However, there are fewer number of prisons for women, as a result women may be imprisoned far away from their families, which may hinder the efforts to reduce their rates of reoffending, since family contact is a key element in bringing about reduced reoffending. Women are sent to prison on very short term prison sentences, which renders them homeless and unemployed but does not effectively address their reasons for offending, with the net result that more than half of the women offenders tend to offend again. In addition, 18,000 children of these prison women are separated from their mothers and 95% of them are moved away from their family homes, as a result of which there is more disruption caused in the lives of both the children and the women and this further hampers the prevention of re-offending in these women.(www.womeninlondon.org.uk). The prison system in the UK is designed to accommodate violent offending men, therefore it may not serve the needs of vulnerable women offenders, who may themselves be victims of abuse. Alternatively, they may be suffering from mental health problems or be drug abusers and these women with special needs may be inadequately served by a prison system that dumps them together with men and subjects them to the hardships of men’s prisons. For instance, in reference to a prison in Cheshire, it has been pointed out that women inmates in particular are placed at risk because of their increased vulnerability, and the prison has been branded as “unsafe for women”. (www.news.bbc.co.uk). A report published by the Fawcett Society shows that prisons may not be appropriate for women because they may do better in women only, community based centres.(www.fawcettsociety.org.uk). This report recommends that community sentences should be used more in the case of women, rather than sending them to prison with men criminals, because this serves to better meet their needs. This report identifies the root of the problem as being the fact that women are being sent to prisons where they simply should not be. Their punishment in being sent to prisons meant for men are simply not in proportion to the seriousness of their crimes. For instance the Fawcett report has pointed out that by mid 2007, only 29% of the 4326 women in prison had committed violent crimes.(www.womeninlondon.org). In the year 2006, 33% of the women who had been sentenced to prison were there on drug related offences, 19% were convicted of exercising violence against the person, 12% for theft and 9% for robbery. (www.hmprisonservice.gov.uk). Therefore, as a whole, women tend to commit less serious crimes as compared to men. Most of the women are ethnic minorities and foreign national, in 2006, 21% of the women prisoners were foreign nationals while 28% were from the ethnic minority groups. Unlike men who generally have previous prison convictions, more than a third of all adult women in prison did not have previous convictions. In addition to this, they have families and children who are adversely impacted by the separation from their mothers when they are in prison. Since there are only a few prisons for women and they are in geographically distant areas, women serve out their sentences in areas further away than male prisoners do. Since their crimes are less serious than men, incarcerating them in male prisons where they are isolated from their families and forced to live with hardened male criminals, may be a punishment too severe for vulnerable women. Bearing in mind that most of these women offenders are in fact victims of abuse themselves and may be drug abusers or have problems related to their mental health, punishing them by sending them to male prisons seems totally out of proportion to their offences. Up to 80% of the women in prison may be suffering from mental health problems, while the percentage of women in the overall population suffering from mental disorders such as anxiety and trouble in sleeping may be less than 20%. (www.hmprisonservice.gov.uk). Up to 50% of women in prisons may be victims of physical, sexual or emotional abuse, and incarcerating them in men’s prisons and placing them on par with violent male offenders fails to take into account the differences between men and women. According to Bakewell (2008), it is hard to imagine another area where differences between men and women are as pronounced as they are among prisoners. She points out that women are generally law abiding and not usually members of the criminal classes. Women’s lives’ and their world view is centered around their families and they are the ones who bear children and look after them. But the prison systems for women, modeled during the Victorian times, have been created on par with those for men, without enough thought being given to the differences that exist between men and women. Most women commit their crimes as sidekicks of men, they are not of themselves, initiators of violent crime. Women also tend to fare much worse than men while they re in prison, they may display a greater tendency to harm themselves and find they have lost their homes when they come out of prison, which could affect them adversely.(Bakewell, 2008). In response to the Fawcett Report, the Chair of the Commission on Women and the Criminal Justice System expressed the view that “prison for women is over-used, counterproductive and - far too often – fatal…….how many more women prisoners must die before we stop sending vulnerable women who havent even committed a violent offence to prison?” (www.womeninlondon.org.uk). Sending women to men’s prisons does not achieve the objective of rehabilitating them into society, but only leaves further scope for them to re-offend when they leave prison or alternatively, die in prison because they are unable to bear the cruel conditions in prison. Prison is hard for a woman and prison staff and governors are well aware of the fact.(Bakewell, 2008). The differences between men and women account for the differences in the way they respond to prison. It is essential that while designing means and methods to cope with offending behavior in women, the differences between men and women are taken into account. Those systems which work to retrain men may not necessarily work for women, but prison systems which were developed in Victorian times are based on the faulty principle that men and women can be treated in the same way. While the hard prison life may be a particularly apt punishment for the hardened male criminal, who is guilty of violent crimes and may also be a repeat offender, applying the same system to women may be totally inappropriate. Firstly, women not criminal by nature, they are generally law abiding. When they are engaged in crime, those crimes are generally less serious, such as theft or burglary. As Bakewell (2008) has pointed out, even the most dangerous women criminals have generally been functioning as sidekicks for men, who are the original initiators of the crime. Moreover, women are child bearers and carry the responsibility of nurturing their children. Their world view is centered around their families, unlike men whose lives do not revolve around their families. As a result, isolating women in prison is harder for them to bear, because they are separated from their families and especially their children. In addition, women are not hardened criminals like men, they may have committed their less serious crimes out of desperation or on the instructions of their partners. All of these differences suggest that women should not be subjected to the same prison conditions as men, a different approach may be required. When women are clapped into prison, they are separated from their children and may find themselves homeless when they leave prison. Furthermore, since they are often victims of abuse themselves, subjecting them to harsh prison conditions is counter productive to their interests and their mental well being. This is the reason why Jean Corston, the Chair of the Commission on women and the criminal justice system, has clearly stated that what is required is “a radical new approach that will properly rehabilitate women – not more futile stays in prison.”(www.womeninlondon.org.uk). Sending women to men’s prisons neither reduces their offending behavior, nor does it reduce their propensity to crime because it renders most of these first time offenders homeless and jobless after their prison sentences are completed. The prison experience also does not adequately address the needs of these women, most of whom are abuse victims and it may be too harsh on those who have mental health problems. Therefore on an overall basis, the prison system for women may be nothing but a drain on resources, because it fails to achieve its objective of correction for women offenders. In order to effectively rehabilitate women offenders, the Fawcett report identified above has recommended that in the first instance, courts need to consider whether a prison sentence is appropriate for women at all. Custodial sentences may only be indicated in those instances where the women offenders are identified as dangerous or violent, or in the case of those women who are persistent offenders.(Pearce, 2003). The Report identifies that community based interventions, which are better tailored to meet the needs of women may produce better outcomes. It appears very likely that much better results can be achieved if women are treated closer to their homes. Outcomes are likely to improve if they are placed in women only, community based centers where offenders with drug or mental health related histories can also be effectively treated. Allowing contact with families and addressing the needs of these often abused women is likely to be more effective in ensuring that when they have completed their community based service, they do not go back to their offending behavior. Punishment for criminal behavior has for too long been fashioned around equal and identical systems for both men and women, without taking into account the differences between them. This is one of the reasons why corrective outcome shave not been effective in the case of women and merely represented a drain on resources. It is therefore necessary for Government to reconsider the current corrective measures that are in place and to reassess them, while keeping the differences between the genders in view. Applying punitive measures on women that are disproportionate to their crime and the security risk they pose is only a waste of resources. Women do not pose such a high security risk as men, but they have a greater tendency to inflict harm on themselves; since the year 2003, 30% of female prisoners injured themselves each year as compared to 6% of men.(www.hmprisonservice.gov.uk). Therefore prisons for women need to have a greater share of resources allocated towards providing health care and drug rehabilitation therapy for women. Women’s prisons must also provide facilities for them to interact with their families, especially their children, so that they are motivated to give up their offending behavior. References * Bakewell, Joan, 2008. “Prison – a cruel and unusual punishment for a woman”, The Times, July 1, 2008, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article4244005.ece ; August 12, 2008 * BBC News Report, 2004. “Prison ‘failing vulnerable women, BBC News Report, 12 June, 2004. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3798201.stm ; August 12, 2008 * Community solutions better than prison for women offenders”, http://www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/index.asp?PageID=496 ; August 11, 2008 * “Fawcett: women suicides soar as too many women jailed”, http://www.womeninlondon.org.uk/notices/fawcett070725.htm ; August 12, 2008 * Female Prisoners” ,http://www.hmprisonservice.gov.uk/adviceandsupport/prison_life/femaleprisoners/ ; August 12, 2008. * Morris, Nigel, 2007. “Prison service ‘failed’ woman who killed herself”, The Independent, 8 December, 2007. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/prison-service-failed-woman-who-killed-herself-763780.html ; August 12, 2008 * Pearce, Jo, 2003. “Prison system failing women”, Society Guardian, November 21, 2003, http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2003/nov/21/crime.penal ; August 11, 2008. * Read More