The Anglican Bishop for HM Prisons, the Right Revd Rachel Treweek, in conversation with Charlie Taylor, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons.
Responsible for inspecting conditions for inmates and the staff who work in prisons, Charlie shares his concerns as well as his hopes; “When people come out of prison what sort of person would you want them to be like? It’s going to be interesting to see the sentencing review that the Government is about to announce; ultimately we need to have a conversation about who we lock up, about how long we lock people up for, and most importantly what we want people to do when they’re in prison. And if we want them to come out and be succesful, if we want them to go on and take care of their families, then we really need to begin to have that conversation.”
He continues, “At the heart of it, it’s about the values that you have. About the belief that people can change, that you can build good healthy supportive relationships. And that you can move people on, on that journey. ”
Talking about the current overcrowding crisis in prisons, Charlie tells us, “We have more prisoners than we have capacity for. In many prisons we have enormous levels of overcrowding […] And we’re looking for the beginning of the spark that will help them to change, to move on, to begin to lead a more healthy and successful life.”
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Bishop Rachel is currently recording a series of Podcasts called – ‘Holding the key: A series of conversations to unlock the door to doing prison differently’. Bishop Rachel will be joined by influencers and change-makers as they ask the questions – what is prison really for and more importantly what could the alternatives be?
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