Hello,
“Chris mate, it was this prison sentence that saved me.”
Karl B told me this in 2005 (pre-LandWorks), he had just been released from HMP Channings Wood and was explaining his life story.
It stunned me. I thought everyone hated prison, it was a hopeless institution, and I was (naively) anti-authority and angry. I’d not expected Karl’s words and if I’m honest, I didn’t particularly want to hear them!
I have since heard this so many times. I now understand and I will explain further in a minute. But first…
The Government are potentially about to look more closely at imprisonment, as they wrestle with a chronic overcrowding crisis.
Early release is a desperate reaction to years of underfunding, but it’s not a new prisons strategy.
Last week our latest LandWorks recruit told me about the run up to his imprisonment – drugs, alcohol and a suicide attempt. Collapsing mental health over five years, culminating in an incident, arrest and then a custodial sentence.
Punished for breaking the law of the land? Or a response to a desperate cry for help? Either way… prison.
Yet he maintains, as so many do, that this sentence (6 months) saved him.
I think before we move too far into the debate about reducing prison numbers; some real consideration should be taken of the views from these guys…
Lee 2015… “I need to be lifted out of the madness, I was smoking drugs and robbing, I’m not a bad person, I carry more guilt than anyone I know… I just wanted it to stop, and prison did that.”
So, what have we got here, the surprising view that prison works?
No. But we do have clear evidence that being taken out of and away from a chaotic lifestyle is often necessary. As is the mind-focusing loss of liberty.
Ideally people should get support to change before they reach crisis point. But for those people where prison is unavoidable, removing somebody out of a desperate criminal life should be a golden opportunity to change things and to support people back into the community that they had struggled to fit in.
Prison (may need a new name) could be run in four progressing stages (parts do already exist)
- Local dispersal centres for new sentences: a critical time for understanding somebody’s life. Assessing if they are ready/suitable/want change and will engage.
- Mainstream Prison: for those who simply need to be held in custody. Public protection. Or chose not to engage with resettlement and rehabilitation support.
- Community Prison centres:
- Primary: Prison centres (still within the prison estate) delivering a high standard of rehabilitation and resettlement provision.
- Secondary: Prison Leaver centres (based in the community). Day release prisoners working in the community (like LandWorks) preparing for re-entry into the community, and then continuing that support following release.
Sentences should have early release built in. For those who really engage (with excellent resettlement provision… err that doesn’t yet exist but needs to arrive soon) then they would be eligible for early release.
These centres should be part of the community, supported by the community and working to enhance the local community. Allowing people to be accepted, not ‘othered’, and re-enter their community.
As Barry 2013 (one of the first guys to be part of LandWorks) told me “Chris, we have to Un-Fuck the System.”
He was and is right.
Chris
1st August 2024