Does prison work? In theory, yes. If someone is locked up, they can’t commit crime. Except, they can. And they do.
Soaring rates of violence, self-harm, suicide, rioting and even murder give an insight into life in our prisons. Recidivism rates show that almost half of prisoners reoffend within a year of release.
So, does prison work? There’s no easy answer, but the theory is very different from the reality.
I spent almost 10 years working as a prison officer. During that time, I learned just as much about the outside world as I did about life inside. There’s a certain comfort to be found in seeing prisons as hidden worlds, nothing like the ones we inhabit. And the people inside, they’re nothing like us. But that isn’t the truth.…
