Our prisons are crumbling. Labour is making things worse

When Alex South began her career in a Category A prison, she witnessed even the vilest criminals being rehabilitated through work, education and a renewed sense of purpose. All that has fallen away, and with the government’s proposed prison reform, could fall away still further

When Labour says it inherited a prison system in crisis, it is correct. It is, however, going out of its way to make things worse.

This week, we have learned that the government’s proposed sentencing bill could enable the early release of serious, violent and sexual offenders.

The new bill means that thousands of prisoners serving sentences for rape, stalking and grooming could have their jail time cut. It is an outrage that cannot be allowed to pass – not only because of how it looks to the public, but because long jail terms have a significant positive impact on our worst offenders.

These are inmates who pose a very serious risk to the most vulnerable of our society. I know because in my time as a prison officer, I have met these inmates. I have worked with them. They include men who have beaten women so badly that they have jumped out of windows, men who have stalked their victims for years on end, or have abused their positions of trust to make and share indecent images of children. Short stints in prison are not enough to reduce their risk. Without proper rehabilitation, these prisoners will simply go back out into society and do it all over again.

Moreover, the tools that we have to change their lives – and we do have them – are being squandered. Short sentences do nothing to change violent offenders for the better, but long sentences do. And when used robustly, community sentences can also make a positive change in the lives and futures of low-level offenders.

‘I know from personal experience what a travesty it is that prisoners sit around doing nothing for themselves or for anyone else, simply waiting for the day they're let out’ (Getty)

Yet despite Keir Starmer’s promises to improve offenders' access to “purposeful” activity, such as education and learning, only last month plans were announced to halve that budget in prisons.

I know from personal experience what a travesty it is that prisoners sit around doing nothing for themselves or for anyone else, simply waiting for the day they're let out. While working in a Category A prison, I spent many soul-destroying shifts watching grown men pack tea bags into cellophane bags, over and over again, for a few pounds a week. Hardly the sort of meaningful work that inspires change and self-esteem.

All of this is in stark contrast to the high-security prison where I started my career over a decade ago. There, prisoners were out of their cells eight hours a day in carpentry workshops, learning painting and decorating, and studying with the Open University. They were being punished for their crimes, but also improved for their return to society. It was the safest prison I ever worked in.

But those days are gone. Now, even the most serious offenders may be considered eligible for early release after serving their sentences by monotonously packing tea bags, and that’s if we’re lucky.

I spent the majority of my career working with lifers. I have seen first-hand the positive impact that long sentences can have when characterised by social interaction, routine, work and study. After 10 years as a prison officer, I despair at the state of our prisons and what that means for society. As frontline staffing has been cut, violence in jails has increased. And yet here we are today with the government combining reduced sentences with massive cuts to prison education. Nothing to do, nothing to learn, nothing to aim for and nowhere to go. Until, of course, they're let out, and all there is for them is a return to the life they knew before.

Alex South was a prison officer for 10 years, working at men’s prisons around the country, and is now the author of Behind These Doors (Hodder & Stoughton)