Report reveals broad support for improving prison rehabilitation

A new report from Community Union and Serco has found there is broad public support for improving the rehabilitation of offenders, including from those who favour the toughest sentences.

The findings show that persistent overcrowding, reduced funding for education in prisons and increased pressure on the workforce, all contribute to a weakened rehabilitation culture.

The report, ‘Beyond Bars: improving rehabilitation in prisons’ is the second in a series of reports from Community Union. It is joining with Serco to call for urgent attention on rehabilitation.

As the prison capacity crisis continues to make headlines – and the sentencing of offenders is a topic of political debate – the research finds there is more common ground among public views on rehabilitation than headlines and debates suggest. Their findings show 85% of the public agree that a prison sentence should serve as both a punishment and a means of rehabilitation.

The report argues that broad public support for rehabilitation should give policymakers the political courage to deliver the long-term changes needed to rehabilitate offenders properly and break the cycle of crises facing the prison system. 

How improvements to rehabilitation are seen as central to changing the justice system

Half the public believe the Government’s current approach to rehabilitation is performing badly.

Voters on the political right are not sceptical of the principle of rehabilitation but of how it is being delivered, seeing rehabilitation as an essential part of effective punishment and reducing reoffending. 

When asked to rank the ways in which the justice system could be changed, over half of the public favour improving rehabilitation, closely followed by improving the probation service and significantly higher than wanting to see increases in prison capacity or making the experience of prison harder.

The report also finds cross-party recognition of the pressures facing the prison workforce, as 71% of the public believe the role of a prison officer is more difficult than most public sector jobs, including 72% of Reform UK voters and 76% of Conservative voters. While 55% of the public believe prison officers are not sufficiently valued by society, a view shared by 56% of Reform UK voters and 62% of Green voters.

The report makes several recommendations to turn things around, from renewing calls on the Government to deliver key select committee recommendations on rehabilitation, to a bold new suggestion for the Government to consider giving legal weight to rehabilitative entitlements in individual sentence plans.

Nadia Choudary, Managing Director, Secure Justice & Immigration, Serco UK & Europe, said: “Successful rehabilitation is vital to making society safer. It reduces the burden of reoffending on communities and frees up capacity to ensure victims receive justice. Serco’s innovative programmes, delivered by our dedicated people and supported by employers, provide work and training in custodial settlings that can lead to sustainable employment on release.  

“We’re pleased to have worked with our trade union partners at Community on this research. Investing in our people is central to enabling our Prison Custody Officers to help deliver rehabilitation. That’s why HMP Ashfield was the first prison to provide ISO accredited health and psychological support to PCOs, which we are rolling out across our prisons.

“We also know we have to put rehabilitation into practice in our own hiring. Serco’s internal Pathways programme reaches groups that have faced barriers to employment and so far this year, we have employed 139 people with criminal records.”

Key recommendations and calls for a new national strategy for the prison workforce

Other key recommendations in the report include learning from and building on the examples of good rehabilitative practice across the prison estate and calling for a new national strategy for the prison workforce.

Gavin Miller, National Secretary for Justice & Custodial at Community Union, said:  “It is an unfortunate reality that justice sector staff continue to work under unacceptable conditions that contribute to high levels of staff turnover. Staff shortages undermine the development of a rehabilitative culture, and this means if we are to strengthen rehabilitation, we must first solve issues of overcrowding, staff retention and rising violence.

“This can only be achieved through a root and stem overhaul of the system. Our research with Serco, and subsequent recommendations, set out a clear pathway to reform that prioritises tackling the overcrowding crisis, restoring autonomy to prison governors and reversing cuts to prison education.”

The report’s 10 recommendations call on the Government include tackling overcrowding, a national workforce strategy for the prison workforce, and an improvement in end-to-end data collection.

Olivia Walsham, Director at Public First, said: “Our research underlines the jeopardy currently facing the prison system. It is operating at capacity, struggling to deliver the effective rehabilitation that the public expects and in doing so is perpetuating a cycle of offending that does nothing for prisoner outcomes nor public safety.

“If policymakers were to be bold and focus not only on the amount of time spent in prison but what happens whilst people are there to reduce reoffending, our findings show that they would have the public backing to do so.”

To read the full report, click here.