APF: Time for national conversation on prison
Thursday, 12 Jul 2007 16:17
We welcome Jack Straw's calling for a national conversation about the use of prison.
As well as being incredibly costly and ineffective in reducing reoffending, imprisonment has a disastrous effect on family relationships, which are fundamental in helping an offender keep on the straight and narrow. Research shows that prisoners who have a family to return home to are far less likely to re-offend, yet 45% of them lose contact with their family whilst inside.
Prison can also have a devastating impact on the families left behind, who are forced to deal with the stigma and hardship that comes with having a family member inside. Children with a parent in prison are three times more likely to suffer serious mental health problems and up to six times more likely to end up in prison themselves.
Using alternatives to custody would not only solve the problem of prison overcrowding, but would also reduce the chronic level of family breakdown, which is only reinforcing the cycle of poverty and crime and ultimately increasing the risk of prisoners re-offending on release.
Sarah Salmon, Assistant Director
Action for Prisoners' Families
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