Prison: the Facts Bromley Briefings Summer 2021
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Prison Abolition and Grounded Justice
Georgetown University Law Center Scholarship @ GEORGETOWN LAW 2015 Prison Abolition and Grounded Justice Allegra M. McLeod Georgetown University Law Center, [email protected] This paper can be downloaded free of charge from: https://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/facpub/1490 http://ssrn.com/abstract=2625217 62 UCLA L. Rev. 1156-1239 (2015) This open-access article is brought to you by the Georgetown Law Library. Posted with permission of the author. Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/facpub Part of the Criminal Law Commons, Criminal Procedure Commons, Criminology Commons, and the Social Control, Law, Crime, and Deviance Commons Prison Abolition and Grounded Justice Allegra M. McLeod EVIEW R ABSTRACT This Article introduces to legal scholarship the first sustained discussion of prison LA LAW LA LAW C abolition and what I will call a “prison abolitionist ethic.” Prisons and punitive policing U produce tremendous brutality, violence, racial stratification, ideological rigidity, despair, and waste. Meanwhile, incarceration and prison-backed policing neither redress nor repair the very sorts of harms they are supposed to address—interpersonal violence, addiction, mental illness, and sexual abuse, among others. Yet despite persistent and increasing recognition of the deep problems that attend U.S. incarceration and prison- backed policing, criminal law scholarship has largely failed to consider how the goals of criminal law—principally deterrence, incapacitation, rehabilitation, and retributive justice—might be pursued by means entirely apart from criminal law enforcement. Abandoning prison-backed punishment and punitive policing remains generally unfathomable. This Article argues that the general reluctance to engage seriously an abolitionist framework represents a failure of moral, legal, and political imagination. -
Introductory Handbook on the Prevention of Recidivism and the Social Reintegration of Offenders
Introductory Handbook on The Prevention of Recidivism and the Social Reintegration of Offenders CRIMINAL JUSTICE HANDBOOK SERIES Cover photo: © Rafael Olivares, Dirección General de Centros Penales de El Salvador. UNITED NATIONS OFFICE ON DRUGS AND CRIME Vienna Introductory Handbook on the Prevention of Recidivism and the Social Reintegration of Offenders CRIMINAL JUSTICE HANDBOOK SERIES UNITED NATIONS Vienna, 2018 © United Nations, December 2018. All rights reserved. The designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Publishing production: English, Publishing and Library Section, United Nations Office at Vienna. Preface The first version of the Introductory Handbook on the Prevention of Recidivism and the Social Reintegration of Offenders, published in 2012, was prepared for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) by Vivienne Chin, Associate of the International Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy, Canada, and Yvon Dandurand, crimi- nologist at the University of the Fraser Valley, Canada. The initial draft of the first version of the Handbook was reviewed and discussed during an expert group meeting held in Vienna on 16 and 17 November 2011.Valuable suggestions and contributions were made by the following experts at that meeting: Charles Robert Allen, Ibrahim Hasan Almarooqi, Sultan Mohamed Alniyadi, Tomris Atabay, Karin Bruckmüller, Elias Carranza, Elinor Wanyama Chemonges, Kimmett Edgar, Aida Escobar, Angela Evans, José Filho, Isabel Hight, Andrea King-Wessels, Rita Susana Maxera, Marina Menezes, Hugo Morales, Omar Nashabe, Michael Platzer, Roberto Santana, Guy Schmit, Victoria Sergeyeva, Zhang Xiaohua and Zhao Linna. -
Introduction to Criminology
PART 1 © Nevarpp/iStockphoto/Getty Images Introduction to Criminology CHAPTER 1 Crime and Criminology. 3 CHAPTER 2 The Incidence of Crime . 35 1 © Tithi Luadthong/Shutterstock CHAPTER 1 Crime and Criminology Crime and the fear of crime have permeated the fabric of American life. —Warren E. Burger, Chief Justice, U.S. Supreme Court1 Collective fear stimulates herd instinct, and tends to produce ferocity toward those who are not regarded as members of the herd. —Bertrand Russell2 OBJECTIVES • Define criminology, and understand how this field of study relates to other social science disciplines. Pg. 4 • Understand the meaning of scientific theory and its relationship to research and policy. Pg. 8 • Recognize how the media shape public perceptions of crime. Pg. 19 • Know the criteria for establishing causation, and identify the attributes of good research. Pg. 13 • Understand the politics of criminology and the importance of social context. Pg. 18 • Define criminal law, and understand the conflict and consensus perspectives on the law. Pg. 5 • Describe the various schools of criminological theory and the explanations that they provide. Pg. 9 of the public’s concern about the safety of their com- Introduction munities, crime is a perennial political issue that can- Crime is a social phenomenon that commands the didates for political office are compelled to address. attention and energy of the American public. When Dealing with crime commands a substantial por- crime statistics are announced or a particular crime tion of the country’s tax dollars. Criminal justice sys- goes viral, the public demands that “something be tem operations (police, courts, prisons) cost American done.” American citizens are concerned about their taxpayers over $270 billion annually. -
Why Focus on Reducing Women's Imprisonment?
why women.qxp_Layout 1 03/02/2017 15:43 Page 1 Why focus on reducing women’s imprisonment? Prison Reform Trust briefing February 2017 Key points • The women’s prison population in England and Wales more than doubled between 1995 and 2010 - from under 2,000 women to over 4,000. The numbers have since declined by over 10% – from 4,279 women in April 2012 to 3,821 in April 2016. But the UK still has one of the highest rates of women’s imprisonment in Western Europe. • Women are a small minority of those in the criminal justice system, representing less than 5% of the prison population, and are easily overlooked in policy, planning, and services - they have been described as 'correctional afterthoughts'. • The drivers and patterns of women’s offending are generally different from men’s. • Most of the solutions to women’s offending lie in improved access to community based support services, including women’s centres. These enable women to address underlying problems which may lead to offending but which the criminal justice system cannot solve. • The impact of imprisonment on women, more than half of whom have themselves been victims of serious crime, is especially damaging and their outcomes are worse than men’s. • Most women have neither a home nor a job to go to on release. • Women are much more likely to be primary carers, with children far more directly affected by a prison sentence as a result. The real battle started when I got out. Everything - home, re-establishing relationships, job. Imprisonment just exploded a bomb into every aspect of my life.. -
NO WAY out a Briefing Paper on Foreign National Women in Prison in England and Wales January 2012
NoWayOut_Layout109/01/201212:11Page1 NO WAY OUT A briefing paper on foreign national women in prison in England and Wales January 2012 1. Introduction Foreign national women, many of whom are known to have been trafficked or coerced into offending, represent around one in seven of all the women held in custody in England and Wales. Yet comparatively little information has been produced about these women, their particular circumstances and needs, the offences for which they have been imprisoned and about ways to respond to them justly and effectively. This Prison Reform Trust briefing, drawing on the experience and work of the charity FPWP Hibiscus, the Female Prisoners Welfare Project, and kindly supported by the Barrow Cadbury Trust, sets out to redress the balance and to offer findings and recommendations which could be used to inform a much-needed national strategy for the management of foreign national women in the justice system. An overarching recommendation of Baroness Corston’s report published in 2007 was the need to reduce the number of women in custody, stating that “custodial sentences for women must be reserved for serious and violent offenders who pose a threat to the public”. She included foreign national women in her report, seeing them as: A significant minority group who have distinct needs and for whom a distinct strategy is 1 necessary. NoWayOut_Layout109/01/201212:11Page2 However, when the government response2 and This comes at a time when an increasing then the National Service Framework for percentage of foreign women, who come to the Improving Services to Women Offenders were attention of the criminal justice and immigration published the following year, there were no systems and who end up in custody, have been references to this group.3 living in the UK long enough for their children to consider this country as home. -
Prisoners of Solitude: Bringing History to Bear on Prison Health Policy Margaret Charleroy and Hilary Marland
Prisoners of Solitude: Bringing History to Bear on Prison Health Policy Margaret Charleroy and Hilary Marland Season two of the popular prison drama Orange is the New Black opens in a small concrete cell, no larger than a parking space. The cell is windowless and sparsely furnished; it holds a toilet, a sink and a limp bed. The only distinguishing feature we see is a mural of smeared egg, made by the cell's resident, the show's protagonist Piper Chapman. When a correctional officer arrives at this solitary confinement cell, he wakes her, and mocks her egg fresco. “This is art,” she insists. “This is a yellow warbler drinking out of a daffodil.” Her rambling suggests the confusion and disorientation associated with inmates in solitary confinement, who often become dazed after only a few days in isolation. As the scene continues, we see Piper exhibit further symptoms associated with both short- and long-term solitary confinement—memory loss, inability to reason, mood swings, anxiety—all indicating mental deterioration and impaired mental health. In this and other episodes, we begin to see solitary confinement as the greatest villain in the show, more villainous than any character a writer could create. The new and growing trend of television prison dramas like Orange is the New Black brings the issue of solitary confinement, along with other issues related to incarceration, to a more general audience, exposing very real problems in the failing contemporary prison system, not just in America, but worldwide. The show's success leads us to ask how history, alongside fictional dramas and contemporary case reports, can draw attention to the issue of solitary confinement. -
CAPPTIVE3.Qxp Layout 1 15/01/2021 10:43 Page 1
CAPPTIVE3.qxp_Layout 1 15/01/2021 10:43 Page 1 CAPPTIVE Covid-19 Action Prisons Project: Tracking Innovation, Valuing Experience How prisons are responding to Covid-19 Briefing #3 The prison service’s response, precautions, routine health care, disabilities, well- being, mental health, self-harm, and what helped CAPPTIVE3.qxp_Layout 1 15/01/2021 10:43 Page 2 About the Prison Reform Trust The Prison Reform Trust is an independent UK charity working to create a just, humane and effective prison system. For further information about the Prison Reform Trust, see www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/ About the Prisoner Policy Network The Prisoner Policy Network (PPN) is a network of prisoners, ex-prisoners and supporting organisations. It is hosted by the Prison Reform Trust and will make sure prisoners’ experiences are part of prison policy development nationally. Contact [email protected] or call 020 7251 5070 for more information. Acknowledgements Thank you to all of the people in prison that we spoke to including our PPN members who once again have gone above and beyond, making sure that not only are their voices heard in this discussion but that many other voices are included too. We are also grateful to prisoners’ families for their input. Thanks also go to our PPN advisory group, friends, colleagues and others who have offered comment on early drafts or helped to proofread before publication. © 2021 Prison Reform Trust ISBN: 978-1-908504-78-4 Cover photo credit: Erika Flowers [email protected] Printed by Conquest Litho CAPPTIVE3.qxp_Layout 1 15/01/2021 10:43 Page 3 Contents Introduction i Executive Summary iii 1. -
Prison Reform and Mental Health
Prison reform and mental health Lord Douglas Hurd Prison, the UK’s most serious form of punishment, is effective at little or nothing to stop them offending again. The damage is incapacitating the person. Of course, a man locked up in his cell is made much worse when women are imprisoned far from their not going to be carrying out a burglary. But paradoxically, prison is homes and families and receive inadequate health care during and also a release from responsibility. Prisoners are released from after their time in prison. 6 responsibilities for shelter, food or children. Indeed, imprisonment No One Knows was a programme conducted by the Prison Reform prevents them from meeting their duties to the world outside; that Trust to draw attention, and prompt a response, to people with is, until they are released and return to society. Certainly, if their learning disabilities in prison. It found that 20 to 30 per cent of the mental health problems are not treated, they will emerge more prison population have learning disabilities or difficulties that dependent and less able to cope with the responsibilities of interfere with their ability to cope within the criminal justice citizenship. Then the prison experience – the stresses they have system, while 7 per cent have an IQ of less than 70. 7 No One endured as well as the lack of responsibility – may well render Knows described the challenges faced by these people from the them more of a risk to society than when they entered custody. moment they arrive in prison: poor literacy skills and difficulty expressing themselves complicate daily living and make much of The statistics the prison regime inaccessible. -
Anti- Corruption, Drug Control and the Fight Against Other Transnational Organized Crime
UNODC’s Country programme for Nigeria addresses drug and crime control priorities and focuses on partnerships with key stakeholders. CONIG’s expanding programme portfolio centers around judicial and prison reform, anti- corruption, drug control and the fight against other transnational organized crime. It also aims at better services for victims of human trafficking, drug abusers, and HIV-AIDS risk groups. UNODC Nigeria is located at United Nations House, Plot 617/618 Diplomatic Drive, Central Area District, Abuja P.M.B. 2851, Garki, Abuja. Tel: 234-9-4616552, 4616555; Fax: 234-9-4618533. We welcome comments and feedback. Please contact [email protected] . NOVEMBER 2010 ANTI - CORRUPTION HUMAN TRAFFICKING UNODC Hands Over to EFCC after 5 Years of support The Horror of Child Witch After five years of successful project implementation of the 25 million Euro Stigmatization European Union funded project, UNODC officially handed the reigns of the NAPTIP in collaboration with UNODC, UNICEF and the project to EFCC on 25 November. All parties present confirmed the project’s Governments of Switzerland, UK and Finland impact on the operational and technical capacity of EFCC and the Nigerian organized a sensitization and capacity building judiciary. EFCC’s executive chairman, Chief (Mrs) Farida Waziri thanked the workshop on 11 - 12 November child witch European Union (EU) and UNODC for their support and expertise. She stigmatization practices in Nasarawa State. The acknowledged the crucial role they played in the automation of processes, workshop reviewed the existing legislative capacity building and the development of the national anti-corruption strategy. framework on protection of children’s rights and Mr. -
Bromley Briefings Prison Factfile
BROMLEY BRIEFINGS PRISON FACTFILE December 2007 For more information about the work of the Prison Reform Trust e-mail: [email protected] or call 020 7251 5070 or visit www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk www.innocentuntilprovenguilty.com or www.smartjustice.org These ‘Bromley Briefings’ are being produced in memory of Keith Bromley, a valued friend of PRT and allied groups concerned with prisons and human rights. His support for refugees from oppression, victims of torture and the falsely imprisoned has made a difference to many people’s lives.The Prison Reform Trust is grateful to the Bromley Trust for supporting the production of this briefing paper. Prison Factfile www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk Contents Introduction............................. .3 Prison overview.............................4 Prison overcrowding.......................... .7 Prison suicide. ...........................9 Sentencing trends ........................... 11 Remand prisoners............................12 Women in prison ........................... 14 Mothers and fathers in custody, prisoners’ children................ 16 Social characteristics of prisoners ......................18 Young people in prison (18-20 year olds). ................... 19 Children in prison............................21 Minority ethnic prisoners....... ..................23 Foreign national prisoners.........................24 Elderly prisoners.............................25 Mental health needs of prisoners. .................... 27 Drugs................................ 30 Alcohol................................33 -
Research Into Restorative Justice in Custodial Settings
RESTORATIVE JUSTICE IN CUSTODIAL SETTINGS Report for the Restorative Justice Working Group in Northern Ireland Marian Liebmann and Stephanie Braithwaite CONTENTS Executive Summary 1 Full Report Introduction 1 Restorative Justice 1 Community Service 2 Victim/Offender Mediation 4 Victim Enquiry Work 8 Victim/Offender Groups 8 Relationships in Prison 13 Victim Awareness Work in Prisons 15 Restorative Justice Philosophy in Prisons 17 Issues in Custodial Settings 19 Conclusion 21 Recommendations 21 Useful Organisations 22 Organisations and People Contacted 25 References and useful Publications 27 Restorative Justice in Custodial Settings Marian Liebmann and Stephanie Braithwaite Executive Summary Introduction This lays out the scope of the task. As there is very little written material or research in this area, the authors of the report have, in addition to searching the literature in the normal way, made informal contact with a wide range of professionals and practitioners working in the field of Restorative Justice. The short timescale has meant that there is still material yet to arrive. Nevertheless a good range of information has been gathered. As part of this research, the authors undertook two surveys in April 1999, one of victim/offender mediation services’ involvement with offenders in custody, one of custodial institutions reported to be undertaking Restorative Justice initiatives. Restorative Justice We have used as a starting point a definition of restorative justice by the R.J.W.G. of Northern Ireland: “Using a Restorative Justice model within the Criminal Justice System is embarking on a process of settlement in which: victims are key participants, offenders must accept responsibility for their actions and members of the communities (victims and offenders) are involved in seeking a healing process which includes restitution and restoration." Community Service The Prison Phoenix Trust carried out two surveys of community work and projects carried out by prison establishments, in 1996 and 1998. -
Integrated Technical Guidance Notes on Transnational Organized Crime
Security Sector Reform Integrated Technical Guidance Notes Transnational Organized Crime and Security Sector Reform DPA UNDP Department of Political Affairs United Nations Development Programme DPKO UNFPA Department of Peacekeeping Operations United Nations Population Fund ODA UNICEF United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs United Nations Children’s Fund OHCHR UNITAR Office of the High Commissioner for United Nations Institute for Training Human Rights and Research OSAA UNODC Office of the Special Adviser on Africa United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime PBSO UNOPS Peacebuilding Support Office United Nations Office for Project Services SRSG-SVC UN WOMEN Office of the Special Representative of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict and the Empowerment of Women Security Sector Reform Integrated Technical Guidance Notes Transnational Organized Crime and Security Sector Reform This document is not to be sold © UN 2016 – All rights reserved Editing by Randy Holden Design and production by Rick Jones Cover images © UN Photo (front) and Shutterstock (back) TRANSNATIONAL ORGANIZED CRIME AND SECURITY SECTOR REFORM ii PREFACE In his report (A/62/659-S/2008/39) on security sector reform (SSR), the Secretary- General advocated a more comprehensive approach to this important area of United Nations support. Since then, SSR has become a core element in multidimen- sional peacekeeping and is recognized as an integral part of conflict prevention, sustainable development and peacebuilding more broadly. The Security Council adopted resolution 2151 in 2014, which affirmed that SSR “in post-conflict environ- ments is critical to the consolidation of peace and stability, promoting poverty reduction, rule of law and good governance, extending legitimate State author- ity, and preventing countries from relapsing into conflict” (S/RES/2151).