Accountability and Justice in the English Prison System (From Accountability for Criminal Justice: Selected Essays, P 397-421, 1995, Philip C Stenning, ed. -- See NCJ 166936)

• NCJ Number: 166950
• Author(s): R Morgan; M Maguire
• Date Published: 1995
• Length: 25 pages
• Sale Source: University of Toronto Press
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: Canada

Annotation

After a discussion of the goals of English prisons, this essay reviews the mechanisms through which accountability is implemented and draws some broad conclusions about their adequacy and prospects for the future.

Abstract

The adoption of the "just deserts" philosophy by the British Government as a sentencing model has meant that "the first objective for all sentences is denunciation of and retribution for the crime," with public protection added as a subsidiary aim. Lord Justice Woolf argues that when prisoners are committed by the courts, the intention is that they should lose their liberty, but no more. His message is that prisoners remain citizens with rights and that justice (fairness and due process) should be an overriding characteristic of the prison system. Although the government claims to have accepted most of Woolf's principles and recommendations, it remains to be seen to what extent it will implement them, particularly those involving structural changes such as the development of contracts between prisoners and prison managers, community prisons, and accredited prison standards. This essay notes that the drift from the rehabilitative framework of treatment and training toward a more punitive yet rights- oriented justice approach has stimulated the demand for greater accountability at all levels of prison policy. After discussing the impact of fiscal crisis on the effectiveness and efficiency of the prison system, the authors address the Prison Service's accountability to the minister and to Parliament. The role and the limitations of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons are then considered, followed by a review of the impact of official inquiries and research studies on prison operations. Prisoners' rights as interpreted through domestic and European courts are delineated, along with the work of the boards of visitors, which hear prisoners' complaints. Remaining topics are prison standards, internal accountability, and the Council of Europe "Torture" Committee's assessment of British prisons. The essay concludes that prisoners' entitlement to rights and humane treatment is accepted by the government and prison officials; however, debate continues as to whether prisoners should have special rights and whether standards of care and justice in prisons should be more precisely defined and, if breached, be enforceable at law.