Through Adherence to the Rule of Law, Does the Prison Service Ensure that Justice is Administered Properly?

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Through adherence to the rule of law does the prison service ensure that justice is administered properly?
This essay will evaluate how far the prison service adheres to the rule of law. The prison service is part of the criminal justice system, an official network of agencies whose main purpose is to reinforce law and order within society. The prison service is responsible for those individuals caught up in the process of justice. Through adherence to the rule of law the prison service always has to ensure that justice is seen to be done and is properly administered. The system evolves from the principles of the rule of law. No person can be lawfully made to suffer unless it had been established they had breached the law in a court of the land and no man whatever their rank or condition is above law. The primary principle of the rule of law is that everyone is subject to the law including those who enforce law. (Davies and Croall et al., 2010, p. 18) Criminologists have been interested in the possibility of race, gender and unemployment discrimination in the service. Criminologists have argued that the prison system does not always treat every individual the same; ethnic minorities, lower class and females can be treated in an unjust way.

In the eighteenth century the modern prison was introduced, capital punishment and corporal punishment was no longer believed to be an effective form of punishment. By the nineteenth century the approach to rehabilitate prisoners emerged and became a key function of the prison system. In 1877 the Prison Act was introduced and the prison system we use today is more efficient in crime prevention and also a humane form of penal treatment. The prison service has a duty to look after those who...

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...://www.justice.gov.uk/about/hmps [Accessed: 2 Apr 2014].
Merton, R.K, 1968. Social Theory and Social Structure. In Newburn, T. Criminology. Willan Publishing. OxfordShire.2007.218.
Newburn, T. 2007. Prisons and Imprisonment. In,Criminology. Cullompton: Willan Publishing.
Phillips, C and Bowling, B, 2012. Ethnicity, Racism and the Criminal Justice. In: Morgan, R. Maguire,M and Reiner, R. eds The Oxford Handbook of Criminology. Oxford; Oxford University press.p387
Staff and agencies 2006.Prison service criticised over racist murder. The Guardian. Thursday 29 June 2006 http://www.theguardian.com/news/2006/jun/29/raceintheuk.law. [Accessed 2 April].
Woolf, Lord Justice. 1991. Prison Disturbances April 1990; Report of an Inquiry by the RT. Hons.Lord Justice Woolf. London: HMSO.
Zedner, L. 1991, Women and Crime and Custody in Victorian England. Oxford University Press.

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