Bishop Rachel speaks out on sentencing

Published: Monday February 26, 2024

As we venture towards a General Election at some time this year, the prison population is approaching 90,000 underpinned by a rhetoric across the political spectrum of ‘being tough on crime’. The common narrative is that locking more people up and for longer will result in stronger and safer communities. The evidence does not support this, and rates of reoffending are prolific. So, as Anglican Bishop for HM Prisons in England and Wales I am determined to be part of the solution.

Prison costs in the region of 50K per person per year, and the social and economic cost of reoffending is estimated at £18 billion per annum, thus our current system makes no sense, even if you only care about money. It is not prisons which need expanding but rather our imaginations and public understanding.

The approach to so much in society fails to start with vision, and instead focuses on short term fixes for presenting issues. This is certainly true regarding criminal justice and prisons. Yet it is only when we paint a vision of the sort of society we want to see that we will begin to respond appropriately.

As a Christian I hold fast to hope in the transforming work of God revealed in Jesus Christ, at the heart of which is the fulfillment of a vision of restored relationship. It is about the flourishing of humanity and all creation, and that is a common theme within different faiths and expressed in the longings of many people regardless of whether they are people of faith or not.

300,000 children a year have a parent in prison, and of those over half of boys go on to commit an offence.

Prisons offer a window onto so much which is broken in our society. Broken relationship is evident across every aspect of our criminal justice system, not least fractured relationships in the lives of offenders, often from an early age, and the fractured lives and communities impacted by crime. Yet, prisons also have the potential to provoke us into shaping a vision for the future.

Over 40% of those in prison were expelled or excluded from school; almost 25% of adults in prison have previously been in care, rising to nearly 50% of all under 21-year-olds in contact with the criminal justice system. Furthermore, it is estimated that 300,000 children a year have a parent in prison, and of those over half of boys go on to commit an offence. These are just a few of the stark statistics which reflect our failure to create a criminal justice system which focuses on relationship and which looks both upstream and downstream with a commitment to taking a long-term view, holding before us a vision of restoration and transformation in the lives of individuals, families and communities.

Against this backdrop of a commitment to a different future, I convened a roundtable discussion in Westminster in November 2023 comprised of experts from the field of criminal justice, including academics, MPs and Peers, CEOs of leading organisations, and those with lived experience of prison. Under Chatham House rules we sought to identify some significant steps towards prison reform. The intention is to further conversations and  action in our different spheres of influence, including the vital need for clarity, not least among wider society, as to what prison is for.

The number of people given a prison sentence of more than 10 years has more than doubled in a decade.

~ Making Sense of Sentencing, Independent Commission →

If we truly want safer and stronger communities, including respect and care for victims of crime (noting that offenders are also often victims), then punishment can only ever be part of the picture. Rehabilitation and  purposeful training and activity must be a major focus within prisons, and continue beyond the prison gate. These points have been repeatedly made by Charlie Taylor, the Chief Inspector of Prisons, and one of the roundtable participants.

Furthermore, given that prison staff have the potential to shape a rehabilitative and relational culture when led by an inspiring and motivated Governor, it is shocking that they are undervalued, with initial training being a matter of weeks with negligible investment in further development and support. There is much which could be gleaned from the innovative ‘Unlocked Graduates’ programme https://unlockedgrads.org.uk/ whose CEO, took part in the Westminster discussion.

While crime should never be condoned, prison is rarely the only answer to the problem – so, with vision, we would be more courageous in establishing alternatives to the revolving door of prison and the repeated pattern of fractured relationship. Such solutions would include ever-more imaginative community-based initiatives; not using prison as a place to accommodate people with severe mental health problems; and shaping alternative interventions for many whose offending is rooted in drug addiction. With a clear vision we could do better join-up across issues, with a willingness to look upstream and downstream, including the strong shining of  light on the importance of enabling offenders to develop and strengthen meaningful and healthy relationships – a point emphasised by another roundtable participant, Lord Farmer, in his 2017 government review on family ties.

The Westminster roundtable agreed this all requires national debate, not least regarding sentencing as recommended in the 2022 Independent Commission into the Experience of Victims and Long-Term Prisoners, chaired by a previous Bishop for Prisons, The Right Revd James Jones. Indeed, as was highlighted at the roundtable, if there is to be meaningful progress regarding prison reform and using available funds effectively, then we need to work persistently and creatively at changing the public narrative. In 2024 I hope it will be possible to create a groundswell across a diversity of media outlets and public figures willing to influence the debate and be part of that  drive to expand our imaginations while resisting the expansion of prisons and the prison population.

The Rt Revd Rachel Treweek, Lord Bishop of Gloucester and Anglican Bishop for HM Prisons in England and Wales

Take it further

Bishop Rachel’s role as Anglican Bishop for Prisons
Read more on the ongoing Sentencing campaign
Fighting for Women’s justice

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