2017-11-06
33 分钟Welcome to LSEIQ, a podcast from the London School of Economics and Political Science,
where we ask leading social scientists and other experts to answer an intelligent question about economics,
politics or society.
Prison staff attacked with cubals, deaths in custody could have been avoided,
government urged to reduce prison population as conditions reached worst ever seen,
just some of the headlines published by the UK press recently about the country's prisons.
And it is with alarming regularity that stories of prison violence,
overcrowding and concerns over the impact of funding cuts are hitting the headlines.
With 46% of all prisoners re-offending within a year of release last year,
the system could be considered not just expensive and unpleasant, but failing.
In this episode, Jess Winstein takes a look at the prison system in England and Wales and asks,
is our prison system broken?
1993, Michael Howard, UK Home Secretary, presents his view of prison at the Conservative Party Conference.
Let's be clear, prison works.
It ensures that we are protected from murderers, muggers and rapists,
and it makes many who are tempted to commit crime think twice.
Tough and uncompromising in tone,
the Home Secretary promised
that the success of the UK's justice system would no longer be judged by whether there had been a fall in prison population or not.
Nearly 25 years on, and England and Wales has the highest imprisonment rate in Western Europe followed by Scotland.