NCJ Number
73807
Date Published
1980
Length
11 pages
Annotation
The implications of the justice and abolitionist ideals of penal reform on the role and the future of imprisonment in Great Britain are explored in the wider context of social changes which have occurred.
Abstract
The penal system in Great Britain is a complex bureaucratic organization involved in a large number of different activities; it detains at least 50,000 citizens daily and employs thousands of staff. Currently, it is faced with a rapid rise in the inmate population, overcrowding, lack of resources, staff shortages, and cost increases. In addition, the present rehabilitative model of the penal system which requires prison staff to encourage and assist inmates to lead a useful life in addition to the staff's main function of providing custody and security, has shown no effectiveness in reducing recidivism. Therefore, the future of the penal system seems to belong to the justice ideal which proposes that imprisonment, while not being directly reformative in aim, provides humane facilities on terms acceptable to inmates and not, as in the rehabilitative ideal, on authoritative terms as part of a correctional program, and that the meaning of a good and useful life be defined within the law by the inmates themselves, with prison staff acting as noncoercive social educators. Under this system, parole as a privilege granted to those who fulfilled the rehabilitative ideal would be abolished, and aftercare would be provided by the local social services. Furthermore, the restriction of imprisonment to punishment aims would result in the drastic reduction of its use and costs. It could in the future lead to the abolition of imprisonment, although such changes can take place only if the society as a whole undergoes changes, including more community control. Notes are included.