Dear Friends

A Home Office not fit for purpose, judges who are too soft on criminals, and a whole stream of eye catching initiatives. The Home Secretary is working hard to shake up the Prison Service and Immigration Department. We are promised a speeding up of deportation of failed asylum seekers, and the building of more prisons.

Britain jails more people than any other European country.  A recent article in the Roman Catholic weekly The Tablet  pointed out that we have more people serving life sentences in this country than in all the other countries of Western Europe put together. Two thirds of those who are released from British jails go on to commit other crimes within two years. What is wrong with us?

We have enough prison places in this country to house a town the size of Ashford, but prisons are of no use unless they work. It’s sometimes my, and maybe your reaction to terrible crimes, to feel that people should be locked away for a very long time. But  we have to face up to the stark fact that in most cases prison merely gets people out of the way, and probably confirms many into a criminal lifestyle. 

It’s time to take a hard look at what society hopes to achieve by sending people to prison. You may like to reflect on this quotation used by Paul Vallely in his article. It recalled words spoken by Winston Churchill; “The mood and temper of the public in regard to the treatment of crime and criminals is one of the most unfailing tests of civilization of any country. A calm and dispassionate recognition of the rights of criminals, an eagerness to rehabilitate all those who have paid their dues in the hard coinage of punishment… and an unfaltering faith that there is a treasure, if you can only find it, in the heart of every man – these are the symbols which in the treatment of crime and criminals marks and measures the stored up strength of a nation.” Remarkable words from a remarkable Home Secretary.

Punishment should act as a deterrence both to the person being punished, and to others who may be drawn to criminal activity. But sentences should also aim to reform a criminal’s lifestyle. The convicted person needs to conclude that they have a stake in staying on the right side of the law, and that they have a stake in law abiding society. For that they might well need effective help in order to take their rightful pace within society. However, the public does need protecting from dangerous and damaged people. That may mean prison for the rest of life. Punishment also needs an element that is cathartic; the victim needs to be compensated for harm sustained; and the offender needs to know that dues to the victim have in some measure been paid in so far as that is possible.

How many people really need to be in prison? What are be the consequences on those who are dependant on prisoners, such as children of mothers sent to prison?  Might it make better sense to respond to a person’s crime without recourse to jail? Does the person require mental health treatment, or addiction therapy, rather than prison?  Do Judges require more discretion, not less, and more creative possibilities at their disposal not just more prisons.

Tough on the causes of crime?  Politicians may point to all sorts of social factors and put forward policies to tackle them, but isn’t the matter at heart a spiritual one. Over the last twenty five years governments have fostered a deeply materialistic, consumerist, and debt ridden society in which many find it difficult to value themselves and other people, and discern a satisfying meaning to their existence. The spiritual dimension to our lives is often derided and dismissed as being too partisan or irrelevant. Yet without a spiritually empowering vision at the heart of our society it’s hard to see how more prisons can really address the causes of why so many more places are needed.

Yours in Christ,

Christopher Smith