For a man currently under investigation by the police, Boris Johnson has quite the interest in law and order. Throughout his premiership, the government has used the rhetoric of being “tough on crime” as a pillar of its populist appeal, epitomised by the home secretary, Priti Patel, turning up to a photo-op last year in a personalised police vest. This would be nauseating at the best of times, but when combined with their attempts to curb protest, it has deeply worrying authoritarian undertones. This stance also means the government has little interest in the nuts and bolts of running a humane prison system – which has led to the borderline neglect of the men, women and children who are currently incarcerated.
This has been painfully brought to the fore by new figures from the Ministry of Justice which show that the number of people dying behind bars in England and Wales has reached its highest level since current recording practices began. Some 371 people died in prison custody in 2021 – the equivalent of more than one a day. Many of these deaths were coronavirus-related. Tragically, 86 took their own lives, up from 67 the previous year. We may no longer have the death penalty in this country, but people in prison are still dying under the state’s watch.
The prison system has long failed to support those with mental health problems – research in 2019 found that male prisoners are 3.7 times more likely to kill themselves than the wider public – but the pandemic has all too predictably made this worse. Strict coronavirus restrictions in prisons have left tens of thousands of people locked in their cells for 23 hours a day for months on end. Ministers were warned that prisons would become “dangerous Covid-19 hotspots”, and that suicides may increase, but failed to maximise an early release scheme that would have protected as many prisoners as possible.
Those left behind have suffered further damage to their mental and physical health. Ministry of Justice data in October last year showed that self-harm rose by 47% among female prisoners in the three months to June 2021, and by a fifth for young people over the course of a year. The death of a baby after a pregnant teenager was left to give birth alone in her cell shows just how brutal conditions in our prisons have become.
Prison reform has long been one of those political hot potatoes that few politicians are willing to tackle sensibly, all too aware that they will be accused of being “soft on crime” or “not on the side of victims”. The government’s recent white paper on prisons is evidence of this, boasting that the government will provide 20,000 more prison places to “protect the public”. Consider that the UK already has the third largest prison population in the Council of Europe after Russia and Turkey.
Those who are uncomfortable with talk of reducing prison numbers often raise fears that it would let “dangerous criminals off the hook”. But the truth is, flaws in the justice system mean that’s exactly what the current system does. New data shows only 1.3% of rape cases are now going to court despite the number of recorded rapes hitting a record high. The idea that the Tories are the party to be trusted on crime was further discredited last week when the Home Office was caught making misleading claims about the latest crime figures. Instead of reflecting a system working well, incarceration is disproportionately inflicted on people who grew up in poverty, as well as those with mental health conditions and from an ethnic minority; the Prison Reform Trust estimates that the over-representation of black, Asian and minority ethnic people jailed in this country is estimated to fill a dozen extra prisons.
What we really need is reform of the entire prison system, starting with an increase in funding for healthcare and palliative support. Not only is it the right thing to do, it will also save taxpayers’ money in the long run by improving prisoners’ health and helping to nurture future rehabilitated citizens. Similarly, we know that investment in rehabilitation keeps the public safer: the “unmitigated disaster” of the Conservative privatisation of probation services led the number of rapes, murders and other serious crimes committed by offenders on parole to rise by more than 50% in just four years.
Investing in preventive measures will also keep people out of the criminal justice system in the first place. Prisons are too often used as a solution to social problems; a civilised – and smart – society would spend its resources on tackling poverty rather than building more cells.
Alongside prevention strategies, we should radically reduce the size of the prison population – by reducing the imprisonment of non-violent offenders, and focusing on community-based options instead. This is particularly sensible for women, the majority of whom are jailed for non-violent crimes. Imprisoning mothers serving sentences for non-violent offences should end and community women’s centres used instead. Research shows that separating children from their mothers – often for a minor crime and short sentence – puts them at risk of school exclusion, suicide attempts and exploitation. Pregnant women especially have no place in our prisons. The consequences of carrying on as we are clear: experts warn that the government’s plan to expand female prison places could mean that more babies die.
As a former public prosecutor, Keir Starmer is in a better position than most to challenge the government to adopt an evidence-based approach to prisons without Johnson being able to accuse him of being “soft” on crime. Justice for victims does not mean the abuse of prisoners, just as law and order cannot be achieved by creating more chaotic lives. Running a nation’s prison system requires more than playing dress-up in a personalised jacket. Perhaps we might begin by remembering that prisoners are still human beings.
Frances Ryan is a Guardian columnist and author of Crippled: Austerity and the Demonisation of Disabled People – now out on audiobook
