Local authorities should take over some of the funding responsibilities of prisons, new report suggests.
The RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce) has published a paper calling for a complete overhaul of the prison service.
The report—A Matter of Conviction: A Blueprint for Community-Based Prisons—argued inconsistent political leadership has created a system which puts community safety at risk and does not reduce reoffending.
It estimated that the cost to the taxpayer of reoffending in England and Wales could be as high as £10.7bn.
The report calls for the Government’s forthcoming White Paper to prioritise a National Rehabilitation Strategy, running to 2020, which should contain a number of points laid out by the RSA.
One of the central recommendations in the report concerned the financing and strategic planning of prisons.
It proposed the creation of Local Prison Boards, which would be comprised of community members such as health, housing and education services, local authorities, employers and service users, who could take over funding responsibilities and oversee strategy for each prison.
‘The potential impact that prisons could have on reducing reoffending and community safety has been undermined by a lack of consistent political leadership and clear purpose,’ said the director of the RSA Future Prison project, Rachel O’Brien’
‘This has led to reactive policy, episodic change and an over-centralised system, which has disempowered the workforce and undermined public confidence.
‘These structural problems are a barrier to rehabilitation, which requires the engagement of local people, employers and services. The government’s commitment to sweeping prison reform is welcome.
‘It must now be underpinned by a combination of measures that tackle short-term capacity, through investing urgently in frontline prison staff, and long-term vision and structural change. The results will be a self-improving system that brings communities closer to the justice system.’
