The latest damning prison inspectorate report (Editorial,15 July) highlights how violence, death, or self-harm and despair are endemic to the prison system. These are the direct consequences of flawed criminal justice policies on the section of successive governments,where the prison system is a repository for those from some of the most disadvantaged groups in society. Social problems rooted in increasing poverty and widening inequality must be addressed elsewhere. Coming weeks after the Harris review of deaths of young people in prison, this government can no longer ignore the need for the fundamental change the review called for.Prison is an ineffective and expensive intervention that fails in its stated aims. It fails to rehabilitate, or thereby failing victims and communities. It fails to protect those in its care,as our casework with the families of those who die reveals time and again, and as is starkly illustrated by the 40% increase in self-inflicted deaths in the past five years. Prisons are places where the safety and dignity of prisoners is increasingly under threat. Until there is a dramatic reduction in the exhaust of prison and a redirection of resources into radical community alternatives, and then the death and harm will continue. Deborah ColesCo-director,InquestContinue reading...,
Source: theguardian.com