Prison break, by Ian Mulheirn

18 Mar 10
IAN MULHEIRN l Spending on the criminal justice system is never very fashionable at the best of times. But over the next four years, we can expect real terms cuts to the

Spending on the criminal justice system is never very fashionable at the best of times. But over the next four years, we can expect real terms cuts to the Ministry of Justice budget of up to 24%, if the main parties' spending plans are to be believed. That's a sum equivalent to the entire operating costs of the prison system. Where are the savings going to come from?

Even when the spending taps were open, policy never cracked the problem of high re-offending. Among offenders with sub-12-month prison sentences - 70% of those handed a prison term each year - more than seven out of every ten are back behind bars within two years of release. Almost 60% of offenders with short-term sentences have ten-or-more previous convictions. And every time an ex-prisoner comes back round the almost inevitable path to re-imprisonment, they cost the taxpayer some £60,000. This is an expensive disgrace.

This morning, at an event with shadow prisons minister, Alan Duncan MP, the SMF set out its model for tackling this dire situation. The policy proposals made in SMF's report focus on how to implement a payment-by-results model of end-to-end offender management for those with short-term sentences. Paying private and third sector providers for cracking recidivism offers three substantial benefits. First, it allows front-line flexibility and innovation, while ensuring central government accountability for money well spent. Second, it will attract private investment to make up for the inevitable retrenchment in public expenditure over the coming decade. Third it holds those paid by results accountable for joining up disparate services - reaching across the silos of the complex array of public services that are integral to tackling recidivism. The available evidence suggests that this approach could save the exchequer around £1bn per year, not to mention the wider societal benefits of reduced re-offending.

But for such a policy to be viable, those paid by results must be offered sufficient control of both the pre- and post-release environments for offenders, in order that they are willing to take on the risk. That will mean using the new and replacement prison capacity, set to come on stream over the next few years, to separate the 9,000 short sentence offenders from longer-term occupants of our prisons. With dedicated rehabilitation prisons, operated by organisations paid on the subsequent re-offending outcomes, we can drive accountable through the prison system, and with it tackle a re-offending problem that has blighted Britain for too long.

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