NCJ Number
137746
Journal
Journal of Law and Society Volume: 19 Issue: 2 Dated: (Summer 1992) Pages: 231-250
Date Published
1992
Length
20 pages
Annotation
After reviewing the background and contents of the Woolf report on prison reform in Great Britain, this article explores the prospects for implementing the report's recommendations.
Abstract
Following the most serious riot and longest siege in British penal history at H.M. Prison Strangeways in Manchester in April 1990, the government appointed Lord Justice Woolf to inquire into the events. The Woolf report was published in February 1991. The report's analysis of the aspects of prison life that have fueled prison disturbances for more than two decades rests on three elements: security, control, and justice. "Security" refers to the obligation of the prison service to receive and hold inmates for the period fixed by the courts. "Control" pertains to order within prison, and "justice" refers to fairness and due process in decisionmaking, as well as the maintenance of standards of care consistent with the letter and spirit of prison rules. Of the many recommendations in the Woolf report, two are pivotal: the recommendation that most inmates be held in "community prisons" and that there be contracts or compacts at all levels of the Prison Service to specify tasks and expectations among correctional agencies and in the interactions of inmates and prison staff. Although the Home Secretary has announced his support for the general thrust of the Woolf report's recommendations, the likelihood of implementation rests on whether prison overcrowding can be eliminated. This is unlikely, given the impact of recent legislation on the increase in prison population. The immediate prospects for the Woolf reform package are thus not good and will not improve until the government makes a commitment to manage the size of the prison population. 122 notes and references