Bishop Rachel responds to the Independent Sentencing Review

“As Anglican Bishop for HM Prisons in England and Wales, I wholeheartedly welcome the report of the Independent Sentencing Review.”

“It’s evidence-led approach has concluded we need a radical shake-up of how we use prison and my hope and prayer is that the Government takes heed and implements the recommendations. This requires a redistribution of criminal justice funding, including sufficient financing of all that will be needed in the probation service. We must be clear on the purpose of prison and what we are trying to achieve. We need to build paths that lead people to better outcomes and allow transformation in the lives of individuals, families and communities, and which offer hope to both victims and offenders. This is what being tough on crime looks like rather than our present politically soft option which simply locks people up and uses prison as a dead end, resulting in high rates of reoffending.

“This review has highlighted that aside from the current capacity issues, prison does not work for most offenders and the vast majority of prisoners are being held for low-level, non-violent crimes. If we rely on prison as our only gear, we’ve lost the ability to match the right solution to the problem. After a recent visit to the Birmingham Intensive Supervision Court pilot, I am more convinced than ever that we need creative alternatives to prison that address the root causes of why someone has committed a crime in the first place and effective ways of preventing people entering cycles of criminality and reoffending, as well as strengthening and protecting communities.

“This report is an unambiguous call to action: if we continue to be soft and ignore evidence about what works to rehabilitate people we are failing victims, communities and the public purse”.

The Independent Sentencing Review, via BBC website →
More about Bishop Rachel’s role as Bishop for Prisons →
Fighting for Women’s Justice →
Justice podcast: Holding the Key →