- The prison population in England and Wales rose last
year to a record high of 70,860, a 7 per cent increase on the previous
year and a 55 per cent jump on 1992, according to Home Office figures.
However, the government's prisons policies were attacked as "warehousing
with no rehabilitation" by the Prison Officers' Association.
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- The number of women prisoners rose by 15 per cent, twice
the rate for men, while the average remand population was 14 per cent higher
compared with a 6 per cent rise among those serving sentences. Six out
of 10 prisoners released in 1999 were reconvicted within two years, although
the proportions were the lowest for those originally convicted of sexual,
fraud and drug offences. But the proportion of young men offenders who
were reconvicted within the same timeframe was 74 per cent.
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- Colin Moses, leader of the Association, said his members
"were being asked to act virtually as turnkeys". He pointed out
that the number of prison officers in the public sector had fallen by 1,000
since 1997 while at the same time the prison population had risen 16 per
cent, and said: "Currently the policy seems to be just warehousing
with no rehabilitation, which gives the effect of a revolving door."
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- © Copyright The Financial Times Ltd 2003.
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