PRT letters in the press
The Prison Reform Trust has had letters published in two national broadsheets, the Guardian, about a recent IMB report on Wormwood Scrubs, and the Daily Telegraph about proposals to build the largest children’s prison in Europe.
Warehousing children in massive prisons is wrong (Telegraph)
Children in trouble with the law are vulnerable and must be housed in a small, family-like environment
Figures suggest prisons are seeing higher rates of death amongst the elderly.
SIR – Government plans for the largest children’s prison in Europe are bad for children, bad for justice and bad for the taxpayer. Children in trouble with the law are some of the most vulnerable and challenging in our society. Many have been the victims of abuse and neglect.
Small, family-like, secure homes that focus on rehabilitation and tailored, individual learning are better at helping children turn their lives around. Instead we get a plan to create massive child prisons and no details on how they will be run. Proposals to house young children with older teenagers present serious safeguarding risks.
There are 40 per cent fewer children in prison today than when this policy of large prisons for children was first developed, and since 2002 youth crime has fallen by 63 per cent. The estimated £85 million of public money required for this project would be better spent on investing in what works rather than an expensive and dangerous child jail.
Warehousing children in massive prisons is the surest way to create more problems for the future.
Peter Wanless
Shami Chakrabarti
Director, Liberty
Paola Uccellari
Director, Children’s Rights Alliance for England
Frances Crook
Chief Executive, the Howard League for Penal Reform
Penelope Gibbs
Chair, Standing Committee on Youth Justice
Juliet Lyon
Director, Prison Reform Trust
Kathy Evans
Chief Executive, Children England
Anna Feuchtwang
Chief Executive, National Children’s Bureau
Susanne Rauprich
Chief Executive, The National Council for Voluntary Youth Services
Emma Smale
Acting Head of Policy and Research, Action for Children
Professor Sir Simon Wessely
President, Royal College of Psychiatrists
Sarah Brennan
Chief Executive, YoungMinds
Dame Sue Bailey
Chair, the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Coalition
Andy Bell
Deputy Chief Executive, Centre for Mental Health
Shauneen Lambe
Executive Director, Just for Kids Law
Deborah Coles
Co-Director, INQUEST
Sarah Salmon
Interim Director, Criminal Justice Alliance
Pam Hibbert
Chair of Trustees, National Association for Youth Justice
Dave Clarke
Chair, Secure Accommodation Network
Gareth Jones
Chair, The Association of Youth Offending Team Managers
Dr Laura Janes
James Kenrick
Co-Chairs, JustRights
Joyce Moseley
Chair, Transition to Adulthood Alliance
Sara Llewellin
Chief Executive Officer, Barrow Cadbury Trust
Richard Garside
Director, Centre for Crime and Justice Studies
Deborah Russo
Joint Managing Solicitor, Prisoners’ Advice Service
Mark Johnson
Founder and Chief Executive Officer, User Voice
Chris Bath
Chief Executive, National Appropriate Adult Network
Dr Theo Gavrielides
Founder and Director, Independent Academic Research Studies
Sally Hunt
General Secretary, University and College Union
Prisons: don’t shoot the messengers (Guardian)
The independent monitoring board report on HMP Wormwood Scrubs is the latest in a series of stark, critical independent monitoring board and HM inspectorate of prisons reports that reveal a prison service buckling under the strain of unprecedented staff and budget cuts (Wormwood Scrubs cuts led to ‘chaos and dysfunction’, 8 October). If, as Eric Allison reports (Grayling’s prisons plan? Shoot the messenger, 8 October), justice ministers are considering making changes, they would be better advised to listen to a well-respected, independent chief inspector, read the information submitted by IMBs and act to put things right rather than ignore a growing crisis in our jails.
Juliet Lyon
Director, Prison Reform Trust
