NCJ Number
122199
Date Published
1989
Length
23 pages
Annotation
This analysis of prison overcrowding, deteriorating penal conditions, and penal policies in England and Wales concludes that positive penal reforms to provide alternatives to incarceration are both necessary and overdue.
Abstract
The current prison construction program at best offers some short-term relief of overcrowding, but it is increasingly being recognized that it will not resolve the basic problems. At worst, it serves as a way of avoiding or postponing the problem of penal reform. However, calls for the abolition of prisons are unrealistic. What is needed are the development of more realistic and appropriate sanctions that can act as competing alternatives to prison and the implementation of these sanctions in a coordinated way to ensure that they are applied at the most effective point in the criminal justice process. Setting priorities through direct engagement with public opinion and the encouragement of public support for realistic alternatives are also needed. Setting up more open accountable penal institutions than the current penal fortresses would be one way to promote the achievement of these goals.