Prisons - Good or Bad?

This is the latest blog post from Frances Crook of the Howard League:-

Building massive jails in remote locations is a recipe for disaster

This government, as with so many of its predecessors, is trying to build its way out of a prison crisis. It has never worked in the past and it will not work this time. I do not need to rehearse the facts about the dire state of prisons and it is now generally agreed that something must be done. The trouble is that, if that something is the wrong thing, the state of prisons will be made worse, not better.

I tend to think that it is best to use evidence when deciding on policy, particularly when lives are at stake and when billions of public money is going to spent. The evidence is that new prisons are not safer than old prisons and that big prisons tend to be more impersonal and therefore more dangerous.

The evidence also points to a building programme expanding the system rather than offering opportunities to reduce the unnecessary and expensive use of penal custody. The evidence indicates that expanding the custodial estate fixes the use of prison in the mind of the public as being the appropriate response to low-level offending and consequently influences political expectations and inflates the system.

Taking a look at the 10 new prisons opened since 1997, we see a grim picture. They are:

Parc, run by G4S and opened in 1997 Altcourse, run by G4S, opened in 1997 Lowdham Grange, run by Serco, opened in 1998 Rye HIll, run by G4S, opened in 2001 Dovegate, run by Serco, opened in 2001 Bronzefield, run by Sodexo, opened in 2004 Peterborough, run by Sodexo, opened in 2005 Isis, run by public sector, opened in 2010 Thameside, run by Serco, opened in 2012 Oakwood, run by G4S, opened in 2012

Two hundred and sixty-four men and women have died in these prisons since they opened. There have been 8,188 recorded incidents of deliberate self-injury. There have been 3,952 recorded assaults. These shiny new prisons were supposed to create safer environments and reduce reoffending when people were released. Neither of these happened.

In fact, violence, drug taking and self-injury are just as awful in newly-built prisons as in Victorian prisons. This is particularly stark as some of these new prisons have been protected from the gross overcrowding inflicted on Victorian jails.The new prisons are big prisons. Oakwood, for example, holds over 2,000 men These are impersonal holding stations where staff are moved from one wing to another and do not have the capacity to get to know their captives.

Decisions made today will lead to increased violence and self-injury and people dying by their own hand

Berwyn in North Wales, which opened earlier this year, is designated to hold 2,100 men when it is full. The prison was designed to replicate the worst prison conditions as three-quarters of the men will be forced to share cells that include open toilets and little ventilation. There are not enough education and work places for all the men and the work available is repetitive, rewarded with pocket money and for just a few hours a week. Within a few years this prison will be a hotbed of resentment and violence.

I have said before, new buildings do not necessarily create a better environment than old buildings. If that were the case, Oxford and Cambridge colleges would all be pulled down in favour of new build. The issue is how the buildings are used, how they are maintained and how many people are crammed into them.

The government’s policy of building massive jails in remote locations is a recipe for disaster that will endure down the generations. Decisions made today will lead to increased violence and self-injury and people dying by their own hand. I will hold this government to account, as I have its predecessors.

Frances Crook

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The trouble is, the government is of the opinion that new prisons are good business and commissioned a report to help smooth the way with any local opposition, and of course the likelihood of that is reduced if they built out in the sticks anyway. Back in July I noticed that the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies are on the case, forcing its publication and must be really irritating the MoJ with their request for help in analysing the content:-

We force government to release secret prison report
Monday, 24 July, 2017

Our Senior Associate, Rebecca Roberts, finally won her six month battle with the Ministry of Justice to release a report about the purported economic benefits new prisons brings to local economies. The disclosure of the report followed an investigation by the Information Commissioner's office. You can download the report below.

The report, Economic Impact of a New Prison, written by consultants Peter Brett Associates, was referenced in planning applications in relation to the proposed construction of a number of new prisons, including at Wellingborough, Full Sutton and Glen Parva.

In March 2017 the Ministry of Justice announced plans for four new prisons in Yorkshire (Full Sutton), Wigan, Rochester and Neath Port Talbot. According to the Ministry's statement, the proposed new prisons will 'act as a boost to regional economies across the country - creating up to 2,000 jobs in the construction and manufacturing industries and new opportunities for local businesses.'

The report, Economic Impact of a New Prison informed these projections. The report calculates an estimate of the economic impact of a new prison on a local district through these processes:

1. Direct impacts from local residents being employed at the new prison and the income these jobs generate.
2. Indirect impacts from jobs and income generated through the prison purchasing local goods and services.
3. Induced impacts from jobs and income generated by prison employees and visitors spending on local goods and services.
4. Second round multiplier effects, which are the effects of consequent rounds of spending from the initial injection in the local economy.

Rebecca Roberts said:

We'll be analysing this report, upon which the Ministry of Justice has made grand claims about the benefits of new prisons in terms of jobs and the local economy. Studies from the USA indicate that prisons generally fail to provide long term economic prosperity, jobs and benefits to local communities. We are keen to establish whether this is the situation here too.

Would you like to help us analysis the report?

We're looking for economists, planning and policy specialists to help us analyse the report and produce an assessment of it. If you would like to contribute, please email matt.ford@crimeandjustice.org.uk

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Economic Impact of a New Prison

1.1 Background 

PBA Roger Tym (PBA) have been commissioned by the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) to update our 2009 study entitled “Economic Impact of a New Prison. The 2009 Study estimated the potential local economic impact of a new prison being built by the Ministry of Justice. 

On 10 January 2013 the Secretary of State for Justice, Chris Grayling, announced that feasibility work would start on what would be Britain’s biggest prison as part of a major programme of updating the country’s prison estate. He stated that the new prison could hold more than 2,000 prisoners – around a quarter more than the largest current facility – and would likely be located in London, North West England or North Wales. 

PBA specialise in planning and economic development and previously were commissioned by the MOJ to examine the economic impacts of four case study prisons in England. Each case study prison had differential characteristics relating to geography, size, security levels and operation (i.e. private or public). The case studies were used to model and calculate the impact on the labour, capital and goods and service markets in the district within which the prison is located, and to provide an expectation of what the standard prison might generate within an undefined number of prisoners, location, security level and operation. 

With these case studies in mind, references to this evidence are used for making appropriate assumptions for estimating the impact of a new prison on the economy, including a local district economy where it might be located. We also note some of the more qualitative impacts relevant to new prisons like investment and job stability, length of the investment impacts, the diversity of jobs, and the training and opportunities for staff progression within them. 

1.2 Study Objectives 

This study aims to update and supplement the 2009 Study, providing an economic impact assessment of a new prison on an undefined local area where the prison might be located. In this study we have modelled the employment benefits relating to an investment of a new prison in line with previous work. These impacts relate to a typical local district area where a new prison might be located. The aim is to calculate the following: 

Jobs created directly at the prison in the local area; 

The turnover and jobs the prison creates in the local area through purchasing on goods and services; and 

The turnover and jobs generated in the local area by spending on goods and services by prison employees and visitors. 

Further unquantifiable impacts are also identified that have an effect on the local economy of the district and can play an important role on the district’s and its residents’ economic prosperity. 

From previous evidence, together with the impacts identified in this study, we draw conclusions on the potential economic impacts that a new prison development is likely to have on its locality. We measure this in terms of jobs supported by income drawn into the local area.