Urgent prison reform from David Beedon

 Dear Tim

Thank you for your positive feedback. As you may have gathered, I am quite passionate about reform of the penal system so it was good to have such an attentive group to speak to, albeit online. I am pleased you found it informative.

Regarding your question: "I would like to make the point that if we were as good as Japan and Scandinavia, our penal system would be so effective that it would save money and not cost so much.  Does he agree?” My response is “Absolutely!” The problem is the wicked dynamic between public opinion/perception and penal policy. Although paternalistic, until the last half a century, penal policy in the UK was largely shaped by policy-makers and ‘experts’ (not a fan of the term, but you know what I mean). The criminologist/sociologist Stanley Cohen wrote a seminal text in the early 70s called “Folk Devils and Moral Panics” which observed how easily the media whipped up public opinion into an out of proportion frenzy which, increasingly, politicians have tried to satisfy by out-doing one another with being ‘tough on crime’. 

Sadly, I suspect most people’s knowledge about mass incarceration is poor and they think locking up people in more numbers for longer solves the problem of crime. So I am not so sure that they care particularly about cutting costs through higher initial investment in better rehabilitative practices leading in the longer term to fewer folk being incarcerated at £43,000 per year cost to the tax-payer. This would require more prevalence of critical thinking skills and less expression of the punitive national psyche. That’s why I welcome any opportunity to bang the drum!

I don’t know about the Japanese system but I know in Scandinavian prisons the incarcerated are looked upon as citizens to be helped to be restored to society. In our penal system we tend to look at them maloptically as deviant human beings needing correction or fixing. Norwegian prison officers train for 2 to 3 years, in the Prison Service officers receive 12 weeks' training. 

You ask about a written version of my talk - I’ll tidy it up and get a copy to Lesley to put on the EI website. Thanks for the extra stimulation.

Every blessing,

David

The Revd Dr David Kirk Beedon