To believe that we can’t rehabilitate repeat offenders

[Atlanticwinds]

I started working in a prison 4 years ago. I entered the service full of hope that I will be changing lives and helping those who struggled in life and had shitty childhoods. I deliver programs to reduce reoffending and invest so much in my learners and constantly advocate for them and for their needs. I can’t go into details of the lengths I went to ensure that they’re supported both whilst in prison and after release so I don’t get identified.

But today I felt low. Really low. All the referrals for the program were men that completed it in the past. Some have done it over and over and have shown us a complete change of character when they were with us. They became peer mentors and drafted some inspiring stories for others. Just to be released and return on a new offense on remand or breach within a couple weeks/ months. Is what I’m doing worth it or is my role and that of my fellow passionate colleagues are just a waste of public money?

Officers smirk at us as we’re seen as unjustifiably positive and keep on insisting that all these men need is someone to show them some tlc and stand by their side after release. Today I realised I was so naive and deserve the ridicule that I get on the wings from some officers.

My last program graduate is only 26 and has been to prison 19 times. He was a ray of sunshine throughout the program and shown some unmatched dedication. Previous offences were all around robbery, theft, drugs …etc. He returned this morning on remand for rape. I’m so sad.

@SquishedMallow The majority of Europe especially the Scandinavian countries don't have the death penalty, they have 'soft' approaches and the results are proof of their success. Whilst countries like the UK and the U.S that over incarcerate, have more crime. Also, we have been for the last few decades from 2010 to now average custodial sentences increased by 75% - on average they have never been higher. Obviously not accounting for some random cases but on average. We have the highest incarceration rate (130 per 100,000) compared to majority of Europe which is around 70 at the highest - most around 50-60. OP does really important work, you can't quantify prevention or the amount of people she and her colleagues help never go back into crime. Same with probation officer, when they fail we over criticise, which I imagine OP is doing but people in OP's role are never praised for the amount of times they get it right. We can't just run a few courses and leave it be.

The majority of prisoners can't read - 82% have writing skills below an 11‑year‑old, so how can they have a job? Around 47% are completely illiterate. Other countries think about this, putting someone in prison for 10 years rather than 5 and expecting them to come out and not reoffend when they can't read, is ludicrous. How will they survive if they can't get a job, so they're homeless, maybe we didn't give them any addiction support. What do you think is going to happen.

The average Scandinavian countries reoffending rate in 27% versus the UK's 39%. Norway reduced its prison population by 40% over 20 years with community sentences and the reoffending rate is around 17-18% after 2 years compared to UK around 39-40%. It went down not up. The sentences are around 6-7 months in prison but then lots of support in the community when released. Unlike the UK whose probation service is understaffed by around 30% and underfunded.

Like I said are you saying that the rest of Europe has nicer criminals than us? Is that why they have a lower crime rate in general and reoffending rate? Or could is be the wide-ranging support they have and focus on rehabilitation? I don't think these are easy fixes, Scandinavian countries have mandatory education to quite a high level in all sentences, it costs money and time and investment into people. But realistically those parts of the CJS, prison, probation, courts are often ignored in funding etc. If we had more prevention with young people in schools, YOI teams, care etc and more reaction when people start going down a wrong path we'd have lower crime. It would take a while to see results but I think and the data does as well, you would get results. Plenty of countries globally get it right I don't think it's that hard to figure what to do, just that it's not an attractive proposal, especially politically to do so. Listen, you might be right but we can't say if we don't even bother. The system we have now is basically set up for failure and nobody wants to invest the resources into it. We could at least try and reform the system and invest, at least then we've seen both sides. But for decades, nobody has even bothered to try.