The UK government set to tackle the prison smuggling environment in order to stop things such as phones, drugs, and weapons being smuggled behind bars. The government are budgeting £100 million for UK prisons as part of a “prison security package” but is this really a thing the government should focus on? When they have issues facing the way prisons work such as their ways of rehabilitation. 46% of prisoners according to fullfact.org, re offended within a year of release.
Having stricter rules on what prisoners can have and cannot doesn’t seem to create an improvement on prisoner’s behaviour but rather restricts their freedom for no apparent reason. The UK could rather invest this money in stopping people from actually doing crimes and follow the approach of countries such as Norway. The rooms in UK prisons are “tiny” and do not have enough personal space for reflection, social aspects in prisons are tights and the layout in general for prisons aren’t good for prisoners well-being, such as “the landings are tiny so people will be in your way” (told by an inside source) which can be an issue for prisoners especially those with a much violent nature who can be triggered by breach of personal space.
The prison system fails as their overcrowded and congested buildings don’t see any form of rehabilitation which has been an issue since 1944 with approximately 21,000 people still sharing cells meant for a single occupant within the same space as their bathrooms, money going towards new equipment won’t help the prisoners’ rehabilitation but cause stress and more room for crime behind bars and even when prisoners are released. The government should focus on how to help through psychological and mental health so they can help reduce the rate of reformed crime.