Statistics

Today I have looked at the Home Affairs Select Committee's Report from 2004 on prison rehabilitation: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200405/cmselect/cmhaff/193/19305.htm

I have used this to find statistics showing how many prisoners are serving different lengths of sentences which will help show me why some are not receiving rehabilitation due to the short nature of their sentence. It also explains that a large number of prisoners do not have any education which highlights how important education services are in prisons. As the report was from 2004 I can compare statistics to how they are now, such as how long prisoners work for per week. There is a graph showing that female, open prisoners spent the most time completing purposeful activity compared to men who are in closed prisons spending the least amount of time. There are also written diaries from prisoners explaining what they spend most of their time doing.

I have also read a Ministry of Justice document entitled: 'Making Prisons Work: Skills for Rehabilitation.' This detailed how reoffending costs the government £13bn a year and for this to reduce, investment needs to be made in making prison regimes give prisoners the skills they need to move away from a life of crime. It was highlighted that integrating prisoners into society through education is important as this would make it easier for ex-offenders to find a job in their community. There are specific case studies showing how women prisoners achieved NVQ Level 3 certificates whilst in prison which they can use to find work when they leave. The government are also rolling out a 'virtual campus' which provides education through the internet to prisoners but also to ex-prisoners so that they still receive support when they leave and can finish their education. This will stop short-term prisoners not receiving rehabilitation because they can just continue it when their sentence is over.

Plan for Report

Today I have outlined the basic plan for my final report.

I am going to start with a brief introduction explaining what rehabilitation is and the background of it's usage in the UK.

Then I am going to answer my aims in the following order:
1) Are there different rehabilitation processes for different age groups?
2) What are the success rates of different programmes?
3) How have rehabilitation processes changed in the last 10 years?
4) How do methods used in the UK compare to methods used in America?
5) What support is available for offenders after they leave prison?

To help me answer these questions I will use case studies to show examples of methods used in specific prisons, the results of my survey to show the publics view of rehabilitation and statistics to show the successes.

Finally I am going to answer my question 'Can an ex-offender ever be fully rehabilitated back into society?' which will be a conclusion/evaluation of my report.

Resource Record

Today I have typed up all of the resources I have used for my research so far.
I have written how useful and reliable I have found them and what type of resource each of them are.
When I start typing up my report I will have to reference each resource properly showing the author and date of publication

California Rehabilitation

Today I have read an article entitled 'The California Prison and Rehabilitation System' which has told me about different offending rates for ethnic minorities. It also detailed that, as in the UK, drug offenders have to spend longer in prison yet there is not much rehabilitation available for them.

Compared to the UK, America takes a much tougher stance on punishment in that 42% of drug offenders were classed as low level offenders yet they were in jail for 6 years. This means they should have more access to rehabilitation but they are generally unable to take advantage of it due to their addictions.

The article has shown me that rehabilitation in California is controlled by the California Department for Corrections so I can going to research this faculty more. However the article showed that only 2% of the budget for prisons is spent on education whilst 41% was spent on security. This shows that rehabilitation isn't at the forefront of the departments thinking. There was also evidence which showed that inmates who left prison with a degree were 18% less likely to reoffend and the reoffending rate was just 5% for people who gained a BU degree compared to the 69% rate for people who didn't.

The article also had a case study -Delancey Street- which provides residential education programmes for offenders who want this. This makes the programmes more effective because the people are not being forced to do something they don't enjoy. Residents can also develop skills such as typing and social skills through playing sport. 80% of residents stay for the full duration of the programme.

http://www.stanford.edu/class/e297c/poverty_prejudice/citypoverty/california.htm

Inside Death Row

Today I watched a documentory about the life of prisoners in Indiana Maximum Security Prison in America. This showed me how the men who are serving over 100 years or are on 'death row' do not have access to any rehabilititation. This means that if they ever had the option for parole they would likely be released as the same person they were before. The men were able to work, like in the UK, but only if they can show that they are no longer 'dangerous'. This means that arguably the people who need the most rehabilitation get the least.

Mid-Project Review Meeting

This week I had a meeting with my tutor to discuss what I have done so far and what I need to do to finish my project. We outlined specific things that I have found successful and some which were not successful, such as trying to find like-for-like statistics. We also wrote down what I have changed from the beginning of my project, like adding in an aim and what I said I would do at the start and which I haven't continued, such as researching terrorism and the background of rehabilitation. I chose not to research these things as I didn't think they would be relevant to bringing an offender back into society.

We also decided that I am going to reduce the wording on my presentation so that I have the ability to talk about the things listed rather than read off of the screen. I am also going to create a table and document all of the resources I have used, or not used, and explain whether they were useful, valid or reliable.

 

Aims

I have decided to add 'Research support options given to newly released offenders' to my aims. As I have researched I have found lots of information and case studies which show the level of support given to offenders when they leave prison. This will help me to determine whether an offender can be completely rehabilitated as if they are not given any supprt when they leave prison then they will just reoffend.

During my research I have found that prisons only give ex-inmates a small amount of money and they are left to decide where to live. This means that they go back to where they came from, find their old criminal friends and reoffend. It is charities such as the Amber Foundation who provide ex-prisoners with a stable place to live and help them to gain the skills needed to get a job. In my presentation I have included a video made by the Amber Foundation which shows 4 ex-offenders telling their stories of prison and what happened on their release day.

There is a large amount of support given to young offenders to make sure they don't return to crime, such as government initiatives. A lot of ex-offenders find it hard to get a job after they leave prison because they have their conviction on record. This is why the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 is important because it means spent convictions for minor offences are written off.