Sir Martin
Narey’s call for prisons to “Forget Rehabilitation” was no doubt designed to provoke a reaction and in that the former head of the National Offender
Management Service has succeeded. Canadian expert Frank Porporino found Narey’s
presentation at the conference of the International Corrections and Prisons
Association (ICPA) in Buenos Aires saddening and puzzling because as Narey
himself admitted he had, as prisons chief in England and Wales, overseen a
big expansion of education and
psychological programmes designed to
help prisoners change their behaviour. The disappointing results of the latter
have led Narey to conclude that “the real and moral challenge is to make
imprisonment humane”.
Much of what
Narey had to say was uncontroversial. Prisons should be clean, orderly and
respectful institutions and ensuring decent everyday conditions and
treatment should be given a higher priority than they often are. His warnings
about the risks of jails descending into brutality and violence were powerfully
made. But is he right that humane containment is the best that prison should
strive to achieve?
International
law makes clear the “the penitentiary system shall comprise treatment of prisoners the essential aim of which shall be their reformation and social rehabilitation”, and while the reality of most prisons worldwide may be far
removed from that lofty ideal, that’s no reason to dismiss it. There’s good
evidence that education, vocational training and work in prison reduce
recidivism and as a recent manual I drafted for the UN recommends, these need
to be expanded not forgotten. It would be a disaster if Narey's headline deters the developing countries represented at ICPA from doing so.
Moreover, without
a strong emphasis on rehabilitation, how will prisoners in any jurisdiction be able to prove to a Parole
Board that they have made efforts to reduce their risks of re-offending? What conclusions will politicians concerned about violent crime draw about how to protect the public? And
how will Prison Services be able to attract the optimistic and skilled staff to work with the people in their care?
Other
presentations at ICPA have stressed the need for a more humane and hopeful philosophy and practice in
prisons- not in opposition to
rehabilitation but as the very foundation of it. A public health approach to incarceration
in the US state of Oregon has seen dramatic improvements in wellbeing of
prisoners and staff. There and in other states, new practice is informed by prisons in Norway where staff are trained not only as guards but as
“facilitators for rehabilitation” and mentors. A similar initiative in Pennsylvania is having to overcome the hurdle of regulations prohibiting fraternisation between staff and prisoners. But good relationships between staff and prisoners is increasingly recognised as the key not only to safe prisons but ones where prisoners can use their time positively.
Shadd Maruna, in a magisterial lecture demolishing the false science of
static risk assessment tools, encouraged instead an approach which takes a much
fuller account of what has happened to prisoners in their lives -which in many
cases includes the experience of trauma. This is not just a matter for psychologists and social workers but for everyone working in prison and making decisions about prisoners.
The emerging
consensus is that prisons need both to treat prisoners with dignity and respect
and to offer them opportunities to come to terms with what they have done and
chart a new course for the future. In fact, you can’t have one without the other. As Debbie Kilroy, the Australian activist and former prisoner told the conference, it's only when prisoners are treated as people and not defined by the worst thing they have done, that they ill take up the opportunities to change.
So, while it
may be right to forget the false promise that a short psychological course can repair
deep seated problems of disadvantage, a rehabilitative culture should remain a
central aim for prisons, alongside all that is required to make it a reality.
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