Prisons are a waste of money?

10) Prisons are a waste of money. With reference to relevant literature / reports discuss why this might be so and give examples of alternatives that might be used more effectively.

Introduction:

Prisons are home to the individuals who have committed a crime, and been convicted of their crime. These correctional facilities are used as a form of punishment by the courts for these felons. ( Free Legal Dictionary, 2013). "There are 14 institutions in the Irish Prison System consisting of 11 traditional "closed" institutions, two open centres, which operate with minimal internal and perimeter security, and one “semi-open" facility with traditional perimeter security but minimal internal security". (Irish Prison System, 2013). The Mission of the Irish Prison System, is "providing safe and secure custody, dignity of care and rehabilitation to prisoners for safer communities", all the while ensuring public safety. (Irish Prison Service, 2013) According to the Irish Prison Service, the core aim is "prisoner care and rehabilitation. The Service tries to achieve a balanced approach in the effective performance of its care and custody functions. It seeks to manage sentences in a way which encourages and supports prisoners in their efforts to live law abiding and purposeful lives on release." (2013). Each of these programmes offered to convicted prisoners are what leads to the accusation that prisons are a waste of money. The reality that money is wasted in the prison system is generally agreed, but that is different from common media reporting that prisons are a waste of money. The aim of this paper is to discuss whether or not prisons are a waste of money, by referencing relevant literature. However, the facts supporting this media impression justify setting out why this might be so. It is true to say that prisons worldwide are a very costly way of securing those who have been convicted for criminal activity, this high cost of detaining prisoners and suggested alternatives to the prison system currently in place will be addressed in this study.

Findings:

What is apparent is that the ever increasing prison population generally consists of young, poor, uneducated and unemployed people from deprived parts of the country and many who are jailed for non violent crimes or non payment of civil fines. It is clear that those in power or those of a higher social status view prison as a fitting punishment for criminals, in todays society this is not in fact an action of last resort, but the first choice is to lock these individuals up. Understandably these criminals need to pay for what they have done but such a strategy ensures that prisons can justifiably be described as a waste of money. According to a study by Chazelle in 2011, "In 1970, fewer than 200,000 Americans were incarcerated. Today, with some 2.3 million in prison or jail, the US has more people and a higher percentage of its population locked up than any other country."(2011) Thus proving that there are drastic increases in prisoners world-wide and with this there is an inevitable lead to a huge increase in costs. The Irish Penal Reform Trust [IPRT], established in 1994 is a non government organisation campaigning for progressive reform of Irish Penal Society. They publish a wide range of research documents but seldom get a lot of media attention. They promote many alternatives to the existing prison system. Some facts and figures provided by the IPRT strongly indicate that prisons are a "waste" of money :

"1. The current prison population is 4,306 (7th March 2013)

2. The rate of imprisonment in Ireland is 96 per 100,000 of population (May 2012)

3. The prison population has increased by 400% since 1970.

4. The average cost of imprisonment per prisoner was €65,404 in 2012, not including education spend; it was €65,359in 2011; €70,513 in 2010; €77,222 in 2009.

5. 60% of people serving sentences for 6 months or less are poor, and are often homeless people.

6. The majority of Irish prisoners have never sat a State exam and over half left school before the age of 15.

8. Over the past 14 years, the numbers in custody have increased by almost 100%.

9. 85% of fine defaulters are back in custody within four years.

10. The total number in prison has increased by 419 over the past 12 months; this represents a rise of 10% in the number in custody. (January 2011)" (IPRT 2013)

Describing prisons as a waste of money can be a strong topic for discussion as they are not a waste for those who actually learn and grow from their time in prison. Whereas, if the same amount of money is being spent on recidivists then it is fair to say that money is potentially being wasted as this is not their first time availing of the help being offered to them, and ultimately the money being spent on them. It costs millions to house these prisoners and many of these people are homeless and have never been employed or never paid taxes so it is us, the tax payers, whose money is paying to keep these criminals in conditions that are potentially better than what they would have on the outside. The topic of cost of Prison is hugely important at the minute as we are faced with a worldwide economic crisis. According to Peggy McGarry, Director, Center on Sentencing and Corrections in the US, "Knowing the taxpayer cost of any public policy option is important—especially now. But it is just as important to examine and weigh those costs against the benefits they promise to deliver". (2012) Government over decades have commissioned reports like ‘Whitaker, 1985’ with similar summary messages that, “while prison should always be seen as a last resort, prisons are needed to protect the people”. According to the Council of Europe, European prison rules, "the purposes of the treatment of persons in custody shall be such as to sustain their health and self-respect and, so far as the length of sentence permits, to develop their sense of responsibility and encourage those attitudes and skills that will assist them to return to society with the best chance of leading law-abiding and self-supporting lives after their release" (1987). These high aims are extremely expensive and therefore lead people to the conclusion that prisons are a waste of money.

John Lonergan in 2010 published his memoirs as Governor of Mount Joy prison, highly admirable of the IPRT and critical of government policy. The ‘Governor’ agreed that there is a direct link between crime and social and economic development believing that the great challenge is the Government’s inability to develop an inclusive and coherent society. Surely this questions the Governments mantra of prisons as ‘primarily needed to protected the public’ (Irish Prison Service). According to Kilcommins, the 21st century prison system has a purpose to "protect public from crime that arises from pathological deviance" and that prisons are the "warehouses to nullify criminal tendencies that cannot be reformed" (2004 : 2) If this was the case, the majority of people in prison would be classified as a danger to the public. However, this is clearly not the case, according to facts provided by the IPRT, 70% of people serving sentences are in prison for periods of 6 months or less for the non payment of fines which makes up the largest percentage of prisoners. These criminals are not exactly a threat to the public but are a major contribution to the costly prison system. (2013) Kilcommins (2004) and O’Mahony (2000) both published extensive research linking drugs and intoxication as factors which fill Irish prisons which need to be dealt with at social level to mitigate against common paths to prison resulting in their overcrowding. Shabby, overcrowded and unsuitable conditions arise from overcrowding and related inefficiencies waste money. Such facts of overcrowding in prisons is proven by figures provided by the IPRT, "Dóchas women’s prison is operating at 22% over design capacity, with 128 women held there. (7th March 2013)" and " Mount joy Prison (male) held 710 prisoners in a prison that should hold no more than 517 on that day, according to the Inspector of Prisons. (8th March 2011) O 'Mahony states that Prison Policy in Ireland, paints a negative picture of the Irish Penal System as chaotic, inhumane, ineffective and ultimately wasteful.(2000) Recidivism is extremely high in Ireland but worse still recidivists are returning to prison for more serious crimes than sentencing for their first prison term. Yet, each time they return to prison they avail of the costly treatments and services provided in these Irish prisons. The objective of ‘changing’ a persons behaviour during a prison sentence period will amount to nothing if the experience of the person merely hardens the individual and exposes them to the likelihood of emerging after sentence as a greater danger than before they entered. Serious gang land crime is organised and nurtured from inside prison where young offenders are recruited in to feuds. Individual drug habits are frequently developed in prison where people emerge as a new risk to society rather than as anyway enlightened to the benefits of social conformity. According to an article by the Irish Times, "prisoners are threatened until they agree to hide other inmates’ drugs or phones in their cells or smuggle them into the jails" (Lally, 2013). According to McCullagh, the government wish to give the perception that prisons are full of violent offenders. White collar crime in Ireland is currently raising a big media issue in relation to sentencing. However, O’Mahony dealt repeatedly with the relationships between social development and prison sentencing in commenting on the absence of sentencing for white collar crimes. He states that white collar criminals are often in comprehensively presented in the media as ‘respectable people’, and the absence of sentencing for such crimes is contradictory to stated government views. (2004)

Costs:

The Social and Economic Cost of the Irish prison system is growing rapidly by10% each year, increasing from 2,400 in 1997. We have one of the world’s most expensive prison systems (per prisoner) and rising prisoner numbers are placing an increasing financial burden on the State at a time of great need in other areas of social spending. Public spending on prisons is unsustainable and delivers poor value for money. The average cost of providing a prison space in 2009 was €79,307 (Irish Prison Service, 2009). This compares with the much more cost-effective option of non-custodial sanction; the cost of provision of a community service order, for example, amounts to approximately one-quarter of the equivalent prison sentence (€4,000 per CSO, compared to an approximate cost of €18,000 for a three-month prison sentence. Source: Dept of Justice). According to the Irish Prison Service annual report in 2007 the gross expenditure was In 2007, the total gross expenditure €394,550,000. Much of this costly sum was used to improve facilities, accommodation and officer training. (IPS, 2007: 31) The example used by O 'Kelly to put this expenditure in perspective was the sentence of the crime figure John Gilligan, “the 20-year-sentence imposed on the crime figure cost the taxpayer more than €4 million.” (O’Kelly, 2004)

Alternatives to Prison:

Kilcommins, best draws the case for penal reform, as to ‘prisons are a waste of money’ unless government deal with social problems. (2004) Recently the Minister for Justice Alan Shatter raised the issue of prison sentencing where community service (now legislated for by government) is seldom imposed by Judges, where he cited large numbers of prisoners are jailed for non payment of fine sentences. However he could not be openly critical of judges. Probation and welfare services remain inadequately funded to relieve the prison population as intended. (Irish Times, 2013) McCullough posits, that the Government continuously support the impression given in newspapers and on television that prisons are full of dangerous people and tough sentencing is needed to protect the public, saying that ‘it is political suicide in Ireland to suggest more lenient measures to deal with offenders’. (2002) In other countries, alternative include, community services and open prison systems are used. According to Verkaik, rehabilitative programmes and community service. "while under the supervision of the probation service" is an alternative being tested in the UK since April 2005. "One of the most imaginative alternatives to custody is the new restorative justice order being piloted in the Thames Valley.(2006) In many cases the victim just wants to talk or to hear the offender say they are sorry. A recent study found that victims who take part in this process report very high levels of satisfaction and very low levels of re-conviction." (Verkaik, 2006) If a person poses a serious danger to society then imprisonment is the best course of action to be taken by the courts for the greater good. Otherwise, with the cases of those who are not a threat to our community, like the previously mentioned prisoners who didn 't pay fines, then other options are preferable. Equally, prison being used solely as a form of punishment only goes so far and you could argue it 's is a 'waste of money ' in that recidivism rates are too high to justify the expense. As claimed by Forbes.com there are many alternatives to Prisons, such as, "Faith-Based Rehabilitation Programs - programs that use religious counsellors from the community to help prisoners on their journey out of jail", "Pay For Your Prison Stay - charge inmates for their room and board" and "The Project For Violence Prevention - working to prevent instead of cure". (David, 2006) The idea of privatising prisons is being explored in the US and UK for efficiency and budget certainty, however, this profit based incarceration is very susceptible to abuse. If you combine the the punishment of prison with the above mentioned alternative techniques and methods of rehabilitation, with the aim of lowering recidivism rates, then it 's much easier to see the worth of prison.

Conclusion:

We will never be able to tell if prisons are in fact a waste of money as there is no way of testing this theory. We can use trial alternatives and offer solutions to problems that the prison service faces, but ultimately we cannot get rid of prisons, but just work to make the costs more effective. As long as the money is being used in a cost-effective manner then we cannot accuse prisons as being a waste. Prisons are a necessary part of society and are used as the predominant form of punishment by the government for those who have committed a crime. We can try new alternatives all we like but ultimately it is the fear of prison that should prevent most people from carrying out crimes. Prisons are used by the government to avoid dealing with social issues, as the financial cost of keeping people in prison ‘protecting the people’ is considered by them to be far less than the costs of tackling the problems highlighted by O 'Mahony and McCullagh. However, 8,304 committals for non-payment of court-ordered fines in 2012 which would be labelled ad ‘low-level offenders’ were imprisoned for failing to pay fines imposed for not having a television licence. They are of no real threat to society as a whole. In order to cut back on government spending, particularly in these recessionary times, alternatives to incarceration must be considered. The way in which prisons are used is a waste of money, where people are unnecessarily locked up in managed secure facilities where the provisions of staff, facilities ,utilities and professional resources are inefficiently used. Overcrowding prohibits the beneficial use of prisons, as mentions by the Irish Prison Service, and the achievement of internationally stated objectives frequently stated by the IPRT but seldom picked up on by mainstream media organisations. The evidence gathered in this paper indicates that Prisons are costing the state and the taxpayer more than it should, particularly taking into account the arguments made, and therefore concludes that they are a “waste of money".

References:

1. The Free Dictionary by Farlex. Prison legal definition. [Online] Available from: http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/prison. [Accessed 3rd May 2013]

2. Irish Penal Reform Trust. Home | Irish Penal Reform Trust (IRPT) [Online] Available from: http://www.iprt.ie/ (2013) [Accessed 3rd May 2013]

3. Irish Prison Service. 2013. Irish Prison Service - Home. [Online] Available from: http://www.irishprisons.ie [Accessed 3rd May 2013]

4. Kilcommins, S. 2004. Crime, Punishment and the Search for Order in Ireland. Dublin: Institute of Public Administration.

5. Henrichson, C. Delaney, R. 2012. The Price of Prisons - What Incarceration Costs Taxpayers [Online] Available from: http://www.vera.org/sites/default/files/resources/downloads/Price_of_Prisons_updated_version_072512.pdf [Accessed 4th May 2013]

6. O’Kelly, B. 2004. Counting the cost of Ireland’s prisons. [Online] Available from http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2004/01/11/story877427047.asp [Accessed 3rd May 2013]

7. Lonergan, J. 2011. The Governor. United Kingdom: Johnston Publishing Ltd.

8. Verkaik, R. 2006. The Big Question: What are the alternatives to prison, and do they work? [Online] Available from: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/the-big-question-what-are-the-alternatives-to-prison-and-do-they-work-419388.html [Accessed 4th May 2013]

9. David, R. 2006. Ten Alternatives to Prison [Online] Available from :http://www.forbes.com/2006/04/15/prison-justice-alternatives_cx_rd_06slate_0418alter.html [Accessed 5th May 2013]

10. O’Mahony, P. 2000. Prison Policy in Ireland: Criminal Justice vs. Social Justice.

11. Lally, C. 2013. Shatter frustrated at judges’ imposing short jail terms. [Online] Available from: http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/shatter-frustrated-at-judges-imposing-short-jail-terms-1.1380538 [Accessed 5th May 2013]

12. McCullagh, C. 2002. ‘The Social Analysis of the Irish Prison System’ IN: O’Mahony, P. (ed.) Criminal Justice in Ireland.

13. O’Mahony, P. 2000. Prison Policy in Ireland: Criminal Justice vs. Social Justice.

14. Chazelle, C. 2011. How to waste money and lives: the American prison system [Online] Available from: http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mike-friends-blog/how-to-waste-money-and-lives [Accessed May 3rd 2013]

References: 3. Irish Prison Service. 2013. Irish Prison Service - Home. [Online] Available from: http://www.irishprisons.ie [Accessed 3rd May 2013] 4 5. Henrichson, C. Delaney, R. 2012. The Price of Prisons - What Incarceration Costs Taxpayers [Online] Available from: http://www.vera.org/sites/default/files/resources/downloads/Price_of_Prisons_updated_version_072512.pdf [Accessed 4th May 2013] 6 7. Lonergan, J. 2011. The Governor. United Kingdom: Johnston Publishing Ltd. 10. O’Mahony, P. 2000. Prison Policy in Ireland: Criminal Justice vs. Social Justice.  11 12. McCullagh, C. 2002. ‘The Social Analysis of the Irish Prison System’ IN: O’Mahony, P. (ed.) Criminal Justice in Ireland.  13 14. Chazelle, C. 2011. How to waste money and lives: the American prison system [Online] Available from: http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mike-friends-blog/how-to-waste-money-and-lives [Accessed May 3rd 2013]