My day in prison
I spent much of yesterday behind bars. Ahead of next Sunday's Prisons Special, I travelled with Martin O'Brien to near Lisburn to see what life is like in Northern Ireland's largest prison for the staff and inmates who live and work there. You can hear my report at the start of next Sunday's programme. I met prisoners, family workers, a governor, prison officers, chaplains, even the guy who runs the gym -- the most popular space in the prison. Our guide was Dale, who has worked in the prison system for nearly 25 years. William McKeown, an acting governor at the prison, showed me around the cells and facilities in Maghabery. I was extremely impressed by the professionalism and the humanity of the staff. I visited the "Reach Landing", which is a specialist accommodation area for prisoners who are particularly struggling with prison life. Some are dealing with a mental health challenge; some are suidical. William showed us the "listening cells" they have on the landing -- fitted with a live communication link to the Samaritans, alarms in case of self-harm, and facilities for others to stay throughout the night with the prisoner in a kind of suicide-watch. Those others are often other prisoners who have been trained as "listeners", and they accompany their peers through those extremely traumatic hours in prison.
I'm still thinking through some of what we saw at Maghaberry, and I hope to draw on some of this on Sunday when we explore the future of prisons in Northern Ireland. Some initial questions and reflections:
1. Maghaberry was designed to accommodate about 500 prisoners in single-cell accommodation. It currently accommodates just over 800 prisoners. Most prisoners sleep in bunk-beds in a pretty small space with a toilet in the corner of the room and a sink next to it. There is a basic table against the wall, and a board above it for pinned posters or other personal material. They typically have a TV, a radio perhaps, and a CD player. Is it appropriate that so many prisoners are placed together in very small spaces designed for single occupation?
2. Northern Ireland has two prisons (Maghaberry with 800 prisoners, Magilligan with about 450) and a young offenders' centre (Hydebank with about 300 inmates). We don't have a single open prison -- though we used to have such a facility before the Troubles. Shouldn't we have an open prison?
3. How can we do more to give all prisoners an experience of daily productive and meaningful activity?
4. The level of illiteracy in prisons is extraordinary. As a society, have we done enough to recognise and respond to the apparentl link between illiteracy and social exclusion?
5. Our prisons are mental health centres -- except that they are under-resourced to deal with mental health issues facing many of their inmates.
6. Are we getting value for money in our prisons? It costs about 拢85,000 per year to incarcerate a single person in prison. Why does it cost so much? One part of that answer is that the private sector makes quite a bit of money from government procurements. A small pair of curtains on a cell window in Maghaberry costs nearly 拢90. Surely prisoners could make curtains for the prison system and save us all some money while doing something productive?
7. Our prisons over various regimes for various prisoners. Some prisoners have a standard regime (so many hours out of their cell, so many hours per week in the gym or the garden, etc.). Prisoners who work well with the system are moved to an "enhanced" regime (increased hours in the gym, etc.). Surely all prisoners whould be encouraged to get out of their cells as early as possible in the day in order to engage in meaningful and productive work or leisure activities? Not as an enhancement, but as a basic aspect of their prison live.
8. One lifer descibed prison as a "lifestyle". The connection between prisons and the communities and families that produce inmates needs to be explored more carefully. Prisons are a commentary on the values of our own society. Deal with the causes of crime and we may stop more people ending up in prison as a matter of inevitability.
9. The general public often wants the government and the courts to operate a zero-tolerance approach to all crime, and to send more and more people to prison. We need a national conversation about the purpose of a prison. Is it merely to express societal anger? Or is it to try turn a person around, to give people alternatives to crime, to educate people who can barely read, to intervene in cases where a mental health crisis underlies a person's behaviour, and to give people a sense of meaning and purpose when they leave prison? Merely throwing the book at people, and locking up as many as we can, appears to contribute a cycle of repeat-offending.
10. Why do we send people to prison? If a man kills another man, he should clearly be removed from society. If someone is violent and a danger to others, they shuld be removed from society. But should a shoplifter ever be sent to prison when there are community-based alternatives to expensive incarceration? Are there whole categories of crime (e.g., financial crimes) that could be better dealt with outside the traditional prison system?
11. We sometimes speak of the transition from prison life "back into the community". Aren't prisoners part of our community already? Aren't they more likely to function as members of our community if we treat them as such? Shoudln't prisoners be permitted to vote, for example? And shouldn't we begin the prisoners journey back into society on the first day they arrive at prison? That's what prison officers say they are doing, but how can we intensify that re-integration earlier in the prisoner's experience? What about supervised community serive activities for all prisoners within certain categories?
12. Prisoners are checked for drug-use. Spot checks. Body searches. Should prison officers also undergo spot checks for drugs? Air crew staff on airlines are checked regularly for drug-use.
13. Should we stop calling prisons "prisons"? Just as we stopped calling Job Seekers' Allowance "unemployment benefit" on the basis that the name can shape a person's attitude to the experience?
UPDATE: The government is expected to announce that a on the existing Magilligan site. This is 70 miles from Belfast, where most of Northern Ireland's prison population comes from. The government clearly can't afford to build on a new site; this new prison will cost 拢200m. Local politicians in the north west argue that the site is a good choice because it helps the local economy, but an independent report by consultants suggests that the prison makes an annual contribution of just 拢7m to the local economy.
UPDATE:
* The Northern Ireland Affairs Committee has suggested that prisoners from rival paramilitary groups should no longer be segregated within the prison population, and that a dedicated women's prison should be built. The committee also asks why the criminal justice system in Northern Ireland is so slow (producing more prisoners on remand) and proposes that a high-security hospital facility should be built to deal with the large numbers of prisoners living with various kinds of mental illness. Full details .
Comments
Typical 大象传媒 liberalism here from Will! We need more prisons, not fewer. Prisoners should KNOW they are being punished. I would introduce capital punishment for murder and sex crimes against children. I would make a life sentence MEAN a life sentence. When we do all that, THEN we can talk about real justice.
Isn't the message of Christianity about how God gives us real grace instead of real justice?
I think Will's comments are thoughtful and if anything atypical.
A few observations.
1) I agree that we should have a conversation about the purpose of prison. I also agree that many nonviolent crimes, including white-collar crimes, could be dealt with in the absence of prison sentences.
2) It's normal for liberal people to feel sorry for inmates and to wish things were better, and unfortunately to let their bleeding hearts affect their judgment. Prison simply isn't meant to be fun. William said, "They typically have a TV, a radio perhaps, and a CD player. Is it appropriate that so many prisoners..." -I'd hoped he was going on to ask if it's appropriate that life in prison is so cushy. After all, these people committed crimes against society and are in there to pay for them. It seems life in prison is becoming more like life in a university dorm. That's what's not appropriate. Why are liberal people so reluctant to say so?
3) In terms of finding productive things for prisoners to do while serving their sentences, may I suggest that it is not the finding of productive things they can do for themselves but the finding of productive things they can do to repay their debt to society that we need to pursue. Frankly, kids' summer camps are more demanding. Perhaps the stationary bicycles in those ever-so-popular prison gyms should be hooked up to dynamos whereby they can produce power for the national grid? Put them on a rota. Or perhaps the traditional chain gang is a better use of their time: removing graffiti, picking up trash, community service. Perhaps in so doing they can help offset the (ridiculous) costs of incarcerating them.
鈥淲hat is prison for?鈥 is a tough question. It is difficult to disentangle ideas of justice, revenge and reform.
Seeking to help prisoners is jumped upon as rewarding crime, but it looks like basic common sense. If it were at all possible to send criminals out of prison with more positive life skills than they arrived with then why would we not do this? Having them leave prison with exactly the same problems but with more criminal contacts & skills and with even less of an investment in society seems a recipe for the sky-high levels of repeat offending produced by the current system.
As Will says, the level of illiteracy in prisons is very high, as are the levels of mental illness and drug addiction. Even non 鈥湸笙蟠 liberals鈥 might agree that fixing these problems could leave a person in a more capable state for dealing with the world. It would be preferable (and no doubt cheaper) if these problems could be spotted and treated early, without waiting for a crime to be committed, but arrival at a prison with such problems should at least trigger the belated recognition that help is required.
Traditional concepts of justice and punishment hang on an equally traditional version of free will. If I have freely chosen to commit a criminal act then I deserve punishment for making such an undesirable choice, and the possibility of such a sanction will be factored in to my decisions. However, if my choices are greatly limited by my capabilities then simply locking me up isn鈥檛 going to improve my future decision-making skills. I have to be able to recognise a wider range of possible options before I can begin to make better choices. This does not mean simply treating the criminal as a mere victim of their circumstances 鈥 we have to hold people responsible for their actions, but this on its own will not fix the problem.
This need not be about bleeding hearts or feeling sorry for anyone. The goal should be to do whatever makes the criminal behaviour less likely in future, even if that requires the criminal to receive some help along with their punishment.
Having said all that, I think the problem of ever-expanding prisons will not be solved in the prison system but in the education system. With sufficient educational and social services resources, many of these problems of esteem, empathy and literacy could be treated much more successfully at primary school age. It is a monumental failure of our society that children can drift through more than a decade of compulsory education without even learning to read.
I though those were good questions. I wonder how some of the prisoners would answer them.
Mabey we could have a guest blogger from Maghaberry?
Interesting proposal from am. I asked the prison authorities about internet use in prisons. Prisoners are not allowed to access the internet freely, and most would not have access at all. Some may use the internet as part of an education class, but only under supervision. I think a guest blog piece from a prisoner is very interesting idea. I will have interviews with some prisoners on Sunday's programme.
nonplussed- I'm very open to a lot of what you've said. If we can eliminate the 'cushiness' in prison and increase the amount of 'rehab' involved, that may satisfy more people. What do you think?
Interesting, I was reading that the OT justice system did not have prisons.
For serious crimes people were executed, for less serious crimes people often had to work off a community service for several years as bond servants (forcing people into slavery for profit was punishable by death).
-No locking people up in boxes for years and no drain on taxation!
I support those giving human support and rehab for prisoners but I be cautious about two viewpoints;-
1) That no prisoners really deserve punishment and that their behaviour is not really their fault.
2) That there is no value in a deterrent.
I know many liberal professionals bandy stats around to support their case but anecdotal evidence seems to suggest that many countries with severe penal systems have cities that are much safer to walk around than britain.
PB
Does the death penalty in the USA make it a safer place than other countries that don鈥檛 have the death penalty? What about the loony tune idea of forcing male prisoners to wear pink under wear as a punishment, does it work?
John@7.
I suspect that much of what you describe as cushiness isn鈥檛 provided out of softness but out of economy. It is simply cheaper and less hassle to give TVs and radios to bored prisoners than to provide and supervise structured productive activities and self-development.
Getting reluctant prisoners to engage in challenging rehab. is likely to be difficult and expensive. If this could achieve a sufficiently high success rate then it could in the long term be cheaper and better for society as a whole than simple containment.
You are right that such rehab. would need to be demanding of the prisoners, not a soft option. But it would also require the politicians to explain that it benefits all of us if prisoners can benefit from their time in prison. Politicians aren鈥檛 great at long term planning, but talking tough is easy and more popular.
Well, where we're tough is that we get them off the street. It's important to be tough, that we'll put them in the slammer if they get violent. One thing Rudy Giuliani did as mayor of New York was to show every other city in the world how to reduce crime, and the threat of prison was a huge part of that. That's how you protect society in the short term. How to protect it in the long term is a much more difficult question, but I think you start with the basic concept of 'prison' for violent offenders and then we talk about BETTER prison and how rehab works, etc. I happen to agree that we should benefit society by making prison a rehab facility of sorts, but I think we must be careful about how that's constructed.
The well being of individuals, families, communities, and the country were we may reside, has it beginnings in the home were children should be taught by their parents the fundamentals principles of respect towards others and their property, honor to whom honor is owed. Parents are the first authority that children should be taught to respect, 鈥淗onor your father and your mother that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you鈥. Learning respect for parents lays the grounding principles for the future life of children and their nation, if children don鈥檛 honor their parents who will they honor, Keep hold of instruction; do not let go; guard her, for she is your life. Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of the evil. Avoid it; do not go on it; turn away from it and pass on.
The break down of the family unit ultimately leads to the break down of individuals, communities and the life of the nation at large, in the words of John Major 鈥淚t is time to get back to basics: to self-discipline and respect for the law, to consideration for others, to accepting responsibility for yourself and your family, and not shuffling it off on the state" - 1993
Getting the nuts and bolts right and tight at the beginning of a new life will reap great rewards for the future generations of those individuals and the society in which they live and the prisons will empty over them generations that law and order and respect is taught in the home, but if the teaching of children is neglected prisons will overflow with those that have no respect for authority. Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. LAW AND ORDER or DISORDER. Parents hold the future in their hands.
The well being of individuals, families, communities, and the country were we may reside, has it beginnings in the home were children should be taught by their parents the fundamentals principles of respect towards others and their property, honor to whom honor is owed. Parents are the first authority that children should be taught to respect, 鈥淗onor your father and your mother that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you鈥. Learning respect for parents lays the grounding principles for the future life of children and their nation, if children don鈥檛 honor their parents who will they honor, Keep hold of instruction; do not let go; guard her, for she is your life. Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of the evil. Avoid it; do not go on it; turn away from it and pass on.
The break down of the family unit ultimately leads to the break down of individuals, communities and the life of the nation at large, in the words of John Major 鈥淚t is time to get back to basics: to self-discipline and respect for the law, to consideration for others, to accepting responsibility for yourself and your family, and not shuffling it off on the state" - 1993
Getting the nuts and bolts right and tight at the beginning of a new life will reap great rewards for the future generations of those individuals and the society in which they live and the prisons will empty over them generations that law and order and respect is taught in the home, but if the teaching of children is neglected prisons will overflow with those that have no respect for authority. Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. LAW AND ORDER or DISORDER. Parents hold the future in their hands.
A message from Jule Anne Boyle, a survivor or violent crime (from Survivors for Justice/Rape Crisis Centre) who took part in Sunday's special edition of Sunday Sequence:
"The 拢86,000 paid out to keep a pirsoner in jail more than we have asked for to keep out centre open. Where are survivors going to go? We still have referrals from doctors, lawyers and psychiatrists."
This deisparity in funding is not only unfair, it is also contra-productive. It is not solely about giving victims material help or counselling. Such centres in Canada have organised meetings between criminals and victims which have achieved the ultimate double whammy: victims can grieve, question, challenge, get closure. Criminals address their behaviour and crime, engage with victims as people (not seeing victims as people is one of the big problems) and change their lives around.
What a great use of resources!