Link to this page: http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/684/12721
From The Socialist newspaper, 7 September 2011
The riots, Clarke and the "broken penal system"
'Justice' Secretary Kenneth Clarke has added to the Tories' reaction to the riots by blaming them on a "broken penal system" that has failed to rehabilitate the "criminal classes". He has defended the heavy sentences handed out. Before Clarke wrote his article, Glyn Travis and Joe Simpson, assistant secretaries of the prison workers' union POA set out some of the key issues in prisons following the riots.
Special magistrates courts stayed opened night and day as the police arrested hundreds of suspects. Magistrates remanded around 75% more people into custody than they normally would and handed down custodial sentences, sending the prison population to a record high.
No one questioned whether the sentencing was just and fair, if it would be effective, or if prisons would simply become warehouses. Has this country witnessed a new policy on criminality, as the coalition government and the majority of MPs appeared to accept summary justice?
In all our time working in prisons, we have very rarely known people to be sent to prison without some form of pre-sentence or psychiatric report, as is happening now. It seems that this decision was made to enhance the coalition government's image of being 'tough on law and order'. No thought can have gone into the impact on the offender or frontline services.
Every day prison staff have to manage, support and care for the people society no longer trusts. They have to ensure they do not self-harm or take their own life, protect them from other prisoners and more importantly, prepare them to lead law-abiding lives upon release. They have to ensure their human and statutory rights are adhered to.
The long-term impact of the summary justice that was handed down following the riots will have to be assessed as it is clear that a divide has arisen between magistrates and Crown Court judges, due to the interference of politicians in the judiciary.
Every prison will feel the effects of the aftermath of the riots for months to come. Staff must deal with prisoners' families and other organisations as they aim to achieve the Prison Service vision of keeping those in custody safe.
All of this has to be managed against the backdrop of more serious staff assaults and at a time when the budget to run prisons is being slashed and prisons are being handed over to private companies to run for profit.
Why not click here to join the Socialist Party, or click here to donate to the Socialist Party.
In The Socialist 7 September 2011:
Action to defeat the cuts!
Strike together to defend pensions
Mobilise the power of the working class
The Socialist editorial
Mass workers' movement - the only way to make the super-rich pay
Socialist Party news and analysis
Tory bribes to promote socially divisive 'Free Schools' agenda
Reject health bill attacks on abortion
The riots, Clarke and the "broken penal system"
New pamphlet - The Rise and Fall of the Scottish Socialist Party
Socialist Party feature
Consequences of 9/11: a world turned upside down
Socialist Party reports and campaigns
Bristol marches against home care sell-off
EDL kept out of Tower Hamlets by thousands protesting
Socialist Party workplace news
Scotland - Unison calls for pensions strike
Picket lines at police stations
Socialist Party youth and students
One in a million...fighting back!
Socialist Party review
International socialist news and analysis
Libya after Gaddafi - Independent workers' action needed
Indian high commission protest over Tamil death sentences
Home | The Socialist 7 September 2011 | Join the Socialist Party
Join us today!
Printable version
