Prison Reform Trust comment on prison closures

Commenting on the closure of three prisons announced today by the Justice Secretary, Ken Clarke, Juliet Lyon, Director of the Prison Reform Trust, said:

Overuse of custody over the last fifteen years has been costly and damaging. As it reviews the prison estate, the Ministry of Justice must now make sure that there are effective alternatives to custody and opportunities for diversion into treatment that command the confidence of the courts and the public.

·        Currently there are nearly 83,000 people in prison, having been less than 45,000 when Ken Clarke was last in charge of prisons and probation in 1992-93.

·        In Germany with over 20 million more people the figure is 72,000 and in France, with the same population less than 60,000 are in prison.

·        Prison has a poor record for reducing reoffending – 49% of adults are reconvicted within one year of being released – for those serving sentences of less than 12 months this increases to 61%. For young people the figure is 74% reconvicted within one year.

·        We have a higher per capita level of expenditure on our criminal justice system than the US or any EU country. Over the five years to 2008-09 prison expenditure increased by nearly 40% in real terms.

·        The overall average cost of each prison place is now £45,000.

·        During their time at school 7% of children experience their father’s imprisonment.

·        7% of prisoners have an IQ of less than 70 and a further 25% have an IQ of less than 80.

·        There are 14 women’s prisons in England and none in Wales. Women represent 5% of the overall prison population.

·        Most women serve very short sentences. In 2009 61% were sentenced to custody for six months or less.

·        Over half of women in custody report having suffered domestic abuse and one in three has experienced sexual abuse.

·        There are high levels of mental health need and more than a third have attempted suicide at some time in their lives.