Jail where inmates are on first-name terms honoured

Longford award for prison accused of being too soft with prisoners

A prison which has achieved stunning results in reducing offending by dangerous and disturbed criminals – often in the face of hostility from prison bosses – will be honoured today for its pioneering work.

Grendon Prison, where inmates are called by their first names and forced to confront their problems in intensive group-therapy sessions, has been operating its scheme for almost half a century. Its controversial methods have led to suspicions that its regime is a "soft touch" for hardened criminals and, at times, its future has seemed precarious. But reoffending rates among its inmates are far lower than elsewhere in the prison system, and levels of violence and self-harm among the lowest in the country. In recognition of its achievement in offering a "beacon of hope", Grendon will be awarded the Longford Prize, sponsored by The Independent.

The award will be made alongside the annual Longford lecture, featuring a debate involving Sir Ian Blair, the outgoing Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Phil Wheatley, the director general of the prison service, and Baroness Kennedy of the Shaws, the human rights lawyer. Grendon, which is near Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, is the sole British prison operating as a "therapeutic community" requiring inmates to face up to their offending behaviour.

Prisoners have to volunteer to be transferred there and demonstrate to staff during a 12-week induction scheme that they have a "genuine desire to change". Inmates – two-thirds of whom are lifers, including murderers, rapists and sex offenders – have small group meetings with staff and psychotherapists and try to understand the causes of their offending.

Each wing of about 40 men also has regular meetings where inmates discuss the running of the prison and resolve disputes. The aim is to build a community with a sense of involvement that prepares them better for life on the outside.

Just 8 per cent of Grendon's lifers reoffend within four years of release, compared with 24 per cent across the general prison estate. One former inmate who nominated the prison for the award said: "Through Grendon, I realised my life was in my hands. I didn't have to be a criminal for the rest of my life."

Peter Bennett, its governor, said yesterday: "Grendon has survived since 1962. There have been difficult times and there have been different kinds of emphases in prison policy over that period. But Grendon has shown extraordinary resilience." He said the jail cost £42,000 per prisoner per year compared to £35,000 for a normal grade B prison, but argued that the extra expense was recouped by the savings to society from reduced offending by former inmates.

Although Grendon provides a specialist service, Dr Bennett said that he believed its principles, particularly in the treatment of inmates and their close co-operation with staff, could be applied across the prison estate. "Prisoners are very well-behaved," he said. "There are very few violent incidents, low levels of self-harm and low levels of drug use."

The award, named after Lord Longford, the penal and social reformer who died in 2001, recognises "outstanding qualities of humanity, courage, persistence and originality". Lucy Gampbell, who leaves after 15 years as director of Action for Prisoners' Families, is also given a lifetime award in recognition of her work with people who are "often the forgotten victims of crime".