The prison of the real

Prison is a test of our humanity.

First, ask yourselves, why do prisons exist? Why do we have these monoliths of incarceration standing gauntly in our midst?

Are we reminded to be good boys and girls as we walk past them, constantly reminded of what awaits if our behaviour deviates from the social norm? Do we feel a sense of justice being done, that the bad guys have lost the freedom to walk down the street just outside their barred windows because of their misdeeds? Or injustice at their being fed three times a day and housed at the tax payers expense after what they have done?

Prisons serve several functions:  retribution, incapacitation, deterrence, and rehabilitation. (cf. Stop the Crime)

Incapacitation: It is necessary that the doers of wrong be taken out of society - that they are prevented from further acts of harm and we are protected from them. If, for no other reasons, prisons are necessary.

Retribution, vengeance, the need to punish those who have wronged. Murder, rape, theft - we human beings do terrible things to one another; it is only right that the perpetrators are punished.

The question, of course, is how should they be punished?

Locking away a person, who has already proven him/herself willing to break the laws of society, for long periods of time with others of a like mind hardly seems conducive to future good behaviour. But what alternatives are there?

Prisons may not be the perfect answer but at least they act as a deterrence and provide the opportunity to rehabilitate the offender. Do they?

Having worked in Prison Education for 7½ years, during which time I designed and implemented the Education Department's contribution to the rehabilitation programme, I still have my doubts about the ability of prisons either to deter crime or rehabilitate offenders.

In response to questions about the amount of time spent in prison, away from family, one inmate responded, "It’s just one of the hazards of the job."

This is an interesting response in that it shows that prison had no deterrent effect what so ever and that, for this person, crime was a 'job'. What is a job but a legally sanctioned means of making an income to support self and family. This inmate, and this is a widespread view among his 'colleagues', his criminal activity, to him, was not in fact criminal. Such a mind-set will never be deterred from crime, certainly not by time served.

Another time, I was chasing a piece of written work from one inmate who was due to be released. His response was, "I'll give it you next time I'm in." Prison humour, no doubt, but telling for all that.

One more example, just because I regard this one as my claim to fame. It's not often you get snubbed by a serial killer!

We had the pleasure of Harold Shipman's company for a while. Shipman is slated as the most prolific serial killer in UK history, having been found guilty of 15 murders and suspected of anything over 200. He, like all new arrivals, was offered the opportunity to benefit from the education programme. When it was suggested by my Education Manager that he might want to do the Psychology course, he allegedly replied, "I know more about psychology than your teacher will ever know!" Ouch!

Of course, he was probably right.

Successful criminals, and being caught and serving time doesn't make you an unsuccessful criminal - quite the contrary - are not stupid. Shipman, being a doctor, an' all, likely had some professional training in psychology, but this isn't what he meant. His proficiency was a direct result of his natural ability to read and then manipulate his victims. It is not an uncommon skill among criminals. It's not so easy to rehabilitate a clever and crafty mind.

If deterrence and rehabilitation don't work - and a miniscule number of successes doesn't prove a case - that leaves only the roles of retribution and incapacitation as the purpose of prisons.

And I have my doubts over retribution. Why do so many Americans stand outside a prison, baying for blood, at the hour of execution?

Having a violent offender locked away does not provide the sense of vengeance implicit in retribution.

F. Emasculata, the twenty-second episode of Season Two, offers an alternative. Being adamantly anti-death penalty, I in no way suggest that we should actually use inmates as medical Guinea pigs, as they are in this creepy episode. The F.B.I. has, however, already shown the way with the work of men like Robert Ressler and John Douglas.

If there's one thing I know for certain after my years working with the guests of Her Majesty, it is that criminals do like to talk about themselves. If you know how to listen, and not be hood-winked by the flim-flam, there is an awful lot to learn from this captive resource.

Knowingly or unknowingly, a criminal providing valuable information on the inner workings of the criminal mind is at least giving something useful back to the society he/she has wronged. It will never fully compensate for murder, rape or theft, but it is certainly more beneficial than merely locking them away in the misguided hope that they'll somehow learn from their fellow inmates that their previous patterns of behaviour are socially unacceptable.