Make Justice Work respond to HM Inspector of Prisons for England and Wales Annual Report
Make Justice Work respond to HM Inspector of Prisons for England and Wales Annual Report
Press Statement: Government must heed warnings before it is too late
Following the publication of the Chief Inspector of Prisons, Dame Anne Owers, annual report, Roma Hooper, Director of a new campaign organisation called Make Justice Works says:
“Anne Owers’ annual report reveals, yet again, the real scale of the crisis in our prison system. It is now a matter of urgency that the government recognise that building their way out of the prison problem is not the answer.
“Surely instead of pouring in a minimum of £2.3 billion into titan prisons, throwing more money at a system which is dangerously overstretched and is not effective at reducing re-offending, we should be trying to reduce prison numbers by investing in alternatives to custody for low risk offenders, which are now proven to be more effective at reducing re-offending and cost far less money.
“Diverting funding into robust and effective alternatives to prison, which can encompass training and employment schemes, drug rehabilitation and mental health support, will not only release time, space and money for specialist rehabilitation for our most serious offenders who should be in prison, but also reduce the dangers associated with overcrowding.
“Surely, this is the moment for such measures, which will save us all money and make us safer, to make it onto the government’s agenda once and for all”.
ENDS
Notes to editors:
1. For further information or to speak to Roma Hooper, please contact Geoff Duggan on 0207 031 1164 or 0778 655 7182.
2. Make Justice Work is a new media campaign designed to raise public awareness of the costliness of locking up non-violent offenders and the futility of short-term sentences while at the same time identifying better ways of reducing re-offending and improving public safety. The campaign will launch officially in spring 2009.
3. Roma Hooper is the Director of Make Justice Work. A well known campaigner and penal policy expert she is also a Co-Founder and Chair of the Prison Radio Association, Chair of the Griffins Society (a practitioner based research organisation looking at the needs of female offenders) and Vice-Chair of the Foundation Training Company (an organisation that runs a series of prison based resettlement and development programmes).
