This would simultaneously address another serious problem in the UK: the failure of prisons to rehabilitate ex-offenders.
The current UK prison system has yet to properly rehabilitate prisoners, which is one important aim of penal systems. The UK has the highest rates of recidivism in Europe. Prisoners are often stuck in a cycle of crime, with 75% of ex-inmates reoffending within 9 years of release, and 39% within the first 12 months. One of the main reasons for high reoffending rates are the lack of employment and housing opportunities for individuals once they leave prison, as well as lacking the knowledge to develop and progress in society. Once leaving prison, individuals often fall back into environments of crime and struggle to sustain employment. Prisons do not equip prisoners with the necessary skills to reintegrate back into society. According to GOV.UK, only 17% of ex-offenders are able to get into a job after one year of release, yet 86% of employers of ex-offenders rate them as good at their job. This is problematic because re-offending rates are substantially higher for ex-offenders who do not enter employment when they are released. Therefore, the punitive UK prison-system offers only a short-term vision of crime reduction.
Prison rehabilitation has been proven to cut recidivisms whilst ensuring former prisoners reintegrate and contribute to advancements in society. This is seen in Scandinavian countries, which adopt a more reformative system aiming to provide prisoners with the skills and confidence to reintegrate into society, and this has significantly reduced re-offending rates, which are at 20%- the lowest globally. For example, in Norway their recidivism rate has fallen to 25% after just five years into a new prison reform. This form of rehabilitation is effective, and is one that can be easily implemented in the UK because of the already existing Release On Temporary Licence (ROTL) scheme. This scheme enables participation in activities outside of the prison establishment that directly contribute to community resettlement and development of a purposeful law abiding life. This could be used when training ex-prisoners up for care sector employment. The focus would be on individuals with non-violent and non-sexual offences, who are enthusiastic about employment in the care sector and sustaining a job outside of prison, as well as individuals with a short amount of time left on their sentence. Gatekeepers would be used to access appropriate individuals, through charities such as Clinks and the Prison Reform Trust who would work alongside government departments involved in the prison and healthcare sectors.
Furthermore, the UK prisons are not only failing those incarnated but also failing the taxpayers funding the prisons. The expense of prison in the UK is higher than that of any other European country, costing £42,142 per prisoner per year. Therefore, the UK prisons are not only inadequate in providing an effective system for rehabilitation and for creating a safer society, but also costing 2.5% of total GDP. Moreover, the inefficiency of reoffending costs the taxpayer around £18.1 billion each year, and due to this, the aim of imprisonment must have some other intention rather than just punishment and deprivation of liberty, there must be aims for rehabilitation involved.
In conclusion, the pressure of COVID-19 has caused pre-existing cracks in the care industry to fracture, bringing our nation’s care system to its knees and leaving much of the ageing population without adequate care. This has pushed the urgency for reform in the care system to the front of British political discourse and emphasised the capacity of our vital care workers, in a time where their work is of ultimate value. In order to tackle the pre-existing structural issues that the care sector and UK prison’s face, there must be a new way of thinking implemented. The care system in place now, whilst effective in the past, must be rethought and redesigned for the current climate and the increasingly ageing population. Therefore, a reformed system must tackle high vacancy and turnover rates and the unsustainable demand on the care sector. This policy brief suggests using the problem of understaffing in the care sector, which has been exposed and exacerbated by the pandemic, as an opportunity to offer ex-offenders the chance to reintegrate into society and reduce the rates of recidivism. This intervention would be a mutually beneficial system to both users of the care sector and prisoners. Prisoners would gain the skills and experience necessary to sustain a job in the care sector and have the option to leave prison and go directly into a job in care, therefore increasing employment post-release and reducing the chances of reoffending, whilst users of the care system would also reap the benefits, as the increased supply of labour would resolve the pre-existing stresses that have been expatiated by the COVID-19 pandemic. This is a scheme that if successful could be used as a framework in other countries globally, making the UK a leading power in a new and innovative idea that eradicates issues in two major sectors.
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