Reoffending Issues In The Prison System

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England and Wales endures one of the largest prison population rates with statistics showing 153 prisoners per 100,000 people (Walmsley 2013). The prison system has experienced an increase of offenders from 40,722 people in December 1991 to 84,424 in February 2013 (The Howard League for Penal Reform 2013). However, female prisoners only account for 4.6% of the prison population in 2013 (House of Commons 2013). Fortunately, the overall figure recorded in 2013 has decreased since the data received in August of 2011, when the population reached a staggering 88,179 prisoners. This upsurge was supposedly due to the remanding and incarceration of those, who were involved in the Croydon riots (House of Commons 2012). It is calculated that every year since 1993, the prison population has undergone a 3.6% increase of inmates and the quantity of sentenced adult males (21 years and over) has increased from 60% in June 1993 to 75% in June 2013. Furthermore, reoffending issues have raised queries of the efficiency of the penal system. In 2010, there were 140,000 re-offenses at a rate of 25.3 percent (Ministry of Justice 2010). In 2013, it rose to 26.9 per cent of inmates reoffended after being released from prison within three years (Ministry of Justice 2013). With the prison population and the number of re-offenses rising, this could reflect a default in the penal system. It is crucial that throughout this study we observe issue that could highlight potential failures in the system, also potentially providing answers to why our prison population is extremely high. However, there have been a number of improvements with the reductions in the number of suicides and narcotic abusers. This has been addressed through treating mental health issues ...

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... is apparent that it is still an issue the UNODC (2014) state that healthcare in prisons is still generally understaffed and under-resourced due to the rise of the prison population. Additionally, other issues arise within overcrowded prisons such as poor quality food, clothes and bedding (The Council of Europe 2000; Great Britain: Parliament: Joint Committee on Human Rights 2008). A briefing carried out by the Prison Reform Trust in 2013 found that high populated prisons increase opportunities for inmates to access illegal drugs. This can also instigate assaults between inmates and staff. Furthermore, it was discovered that there are limited facilities for inmates after prison. This can cause problems for helping drug abusers overcome their addiction, access to housing after release and support to seek employment after their sentence (The Prison Reform Trust 2013).

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