QICJ calls for urgent prison reform
‘We believe prisoners should be treated with dignity and respect and have the chance to contribute to society on release.'
Quakers in Criminal Justice (QICJ) has called for urgent prison reform, including action on the discriminatory use of a painful chemical spray.
The call was made in a joint briefing with the Prison Phoenix Trust to the Criminal Justice Alliance, a network of over 100 organisations, for a meeting with David Lammy.
Melanie Jameson, from QICJ, said: ‘We believe prisoners should be treated with dignity and respect and have the chance to contribute to society on release. The government should act on the evidence on rehabilitation, and resource the prison and probation services to deliver it properly.’
The briefing highlights the disproportionate use of PAVA spray – a chemical incapacitant that causes temporary blindness and intense facial pain – against black prisoners. According to Freedom of Information requests, up to April 2020, black British males made up thirteen per cent of the prison population but were involved in seventeen per cent of PAVA incidents. By November 2022, that figure had risen to forty-three per cent.
QICJ says that despite no proof that PAVA prevents violence, and despite its discriminatory use against black prisoners, the government has extended it to young offenders.
HM Inspectorate of Prisons found in a 2022 report that officers are more likely to perceive black prisoners as a physical threat.
QICJ warned that the new Sentencing Act would require robust measures to prevent it becoming discriminatory by defining black prisoners as higher risk and confining them in custody for longer.
The briefing raised several other concerns such as: support for trauma inside prisons, as people who receive such help are twenty-five per cent less likely to reoffend; and more funding for the probation service, with recalls only happening in cases of serious risk of harm. The briefing also presses for: the reintroduction of dynamic security; improving staff-prisoner relationship; and better support for disabled prisoners in education, activities, and when leaving prison.
