Discussion about prisons sometimes reveals, but often conceals, a deep-seated difference in attitude towards people who break the law and receive sentences of imprisonment. The difference is between those who are sympathetic to their plight and those who are not; that is, between those who see prisoners as fellow citizens who have erred but are capable of change and who are still entitled to decent, humane treatment and help when they need it, and those who see them as a distinct class of people – ‘criminals’ – who have forfeited all such claims and have no place in ‘our’ society. In practice, the differences in perspective can usually be resolved or ignored when there is a job to be done, but they sometimes emerge in a form where reconciliation seems difficult or impossible. In this chapter, we review the present situation in English and Welsh prisons and recent and current proposals for reform. We then argue for a parallel agenda that we hope will help to resolve some of the differences, by focusing on relationships and on the themes of citizenship, community and legitimacy discussed in previous chapters.

English and Welsh prisons today

Prisons in England and Wales have been on the verge of crisis for as long as anyone can remember. Overcrowding was already a problem in the late 1950s, when the white paper Penal Practice in the Changing Society (Home Office, 1959) announced the first programme of new prison building since the end of the 19th century. It reached a point of crisis at various times, for example in 1987 (see chapter two), again in 2007 and most recently after the riots in August, 2011, but the prison service has so far always managed to pull through without drastic measures such as the wholesale release of prisoners. No one now expects overcrowding and the demands it makes on staff and inmates to be anything but a normal part of prison life, with other priorities being subordinated to it.

Safety and security

Prisons have to be safe and secure. Crises of safety and security have occurred at various times – for example, disturbances by prisoners and escapes by notorious prisoners.