6 days ago
How to make early prison release work
Sir Mark Rowley is completely justified in his fears for public safety (UK's most senior police officer criticises early prison release scheme, 28 May). We confuse the lines between punishment, prison sentencing, deterrence and the desire to prevent reoffending.
We can readily identify those who are less likely to reoffend – those who are over 25 and no longer testosterone-fuelled, those who do not have a drug habit, have a home and family to go to, and a means of earning an income.
We know, too, that if prison works as a deterrence, its greatest impact is in the first few days of being there. Thereafter, life becomes institutionalised.
Releasing those from prison who qualify as above, and allowing them to satisfy their sentences with meaningful community employment, may not be the fairest way of reducing the number of people currently in prison, but it is likely to be the safest and most effective way forward for the convicted individual, the taxpayer and society as a LeslauHenley on Thames, Oxfordshire
Police chiefs complain that violent criminals released early will affect public safety. This is misleading. First, only 5.7% of crimes lead to an arrest, and some are acquitted.
It follows that at any time, the great majority of perpetrators of violent crime are on the streets. Early releases will make a relatively small difference.
Second, a violent criminal will currently be released after half their sentence. Say they are 30 years old. This gives them decades to commit further crimes. Adding one or two years to this will not have much impact on total crime.
Third, some of those released early will be convicted of a further crime sooner and return to prison for longer, reducing the impact of early release.
A complex issue is being highly oversimplified by the police WestLondon
As you rightly point out in your editorial (The Guardian view on sentencing reform: a landmark chance for change, 25 May): 'The review rightly says that relationships between probation staff and offenders should get priority.'
What is not mentioned are the enormous cost savings in moving from prison to community service sentences (estimated to be as much 40 times less). These huge cost savings would pay for all the additional probation staff, as well for much improved training and professionalisation for supervisors, upon which the long-term success of this scheme crucially HartCommunity service supervisor, East Northamptonshire, 1977-80
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