Playing politics over prison policy

 By Mark Strozier

In future, when I want to show someone what it looks like when rank political opportunism makes sensible policy impossible, I’ll point them to page 1 of the Guardian, June 29 2011. Under the headline Kenneth Clarke faces fresh battle over sentencing and legal aid reforms we can read about a weakened minister beset on all sides by critics. In fact, sensing blood in the water, government backbenchers and opposition shadows are making Clarke’s life a misery by opposing all of his reforms, no matter how sensible.

Scrapping the indeterminate sentence for public protection, for example, is what, in common parlance is known as a ‘no brainer’. The IPP, is a prime example of knee-jerk penal populism which has left 6,000 people in the Kafkaesque position of having to prove, from inside prison, that they will not commit crimes on the outside by completing a course which they can’t even get a place on. Since the sentences were introduced in 2003, half of IPP prisoners have completed their jail terms but only 3% have been released.

Clarke is hardly perfect. There’s a dreary hint of the fire sale about his attempts to save money through technical changes to sentencing rather than tacking head-on the myth that ‘prison works’. And his so-called ‘rehabilitation revolution’ is seeing a distinct lack of investment in rehabilitation. But on IPPs Clarke is trying to do the right thing – albeit possibly for the wrong reasons. The proposal to scrap IPPs and replace them with “tougher” determinate sentences would serve to remove one of the most egegriously ineffective and unfair sentences in the English justice system. But faced with the possibility of a political scalp, opponents of the Justice Secretary are lining up to defend it.

So, for those who’ve bravely stepped up today to defend the IPP – from the “should know better” Sadiq Khan, to the “from him, I’m surprised it’s not worse” Philip Davies – here’s a reminder of what you’re backing:

“The sentence of Imprisonment for Public Protection must count as one of the least carefully planned and implemented pieces of legislation in the history of British sentencing.” Professor Mike Hough, Kings College London

"The operation of indeterminate sentences for public protection has violated basic principles of justice. Often courts have passed these sentences after considering inadequate pre-sentence reports which overestimate the offender's risk.” Paul Cavadino, Former Chief Executive of the UK’s leading Crime Reduction Charity NACRO.

“The current situation is not sustainable. IPP prisoners now constitute around one in fifteen of the total prison population […] these numbers far exceed the capacity of the probation service and the prison system” Andrew Bridges, HM Chief Inspector of Probation and Anne Owers, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons

“I have a vivid memory that one of the most common things was people coming up to me and saying: 'I am an IPP prisoner – there is nothing I can do, I feel trapped in this cycle and I can't get out of it.' Those sort of sentences were ill-thought-out, rushed through, a kneejerk reaction to a media storm. They are grossly unfair and not in the tradition of British justice with its fair-play approach." Paul McDowell, former Governor of Brixton Prison.

Those playing politics with this important and long over-due reform should be ashamed of themselves.