Humane Prisons by D. Jones (Ed.)

Oxford : Radcliffe ( 2006 ) 213pp . £29.95pb ISBN 1-85775-720-3 Can prisons be humane? If they can, what makes some prisons more or less humane than others? What is the contribution of the current framework, policies and practices of the prison authorities to the state of humanity of our prisons? Humane Prisons is a collection of essays which address the above issues with regard to the prison systems of the UK, USA and Canada. The essays are clustered into three categories: those which address issues that are related to humanity in prison in the context of a specific prison or institution, for example, prison-based therapeutic communities, the American ‘Supermax’ and the UK Close Supervision Centres; those which provide some kind of blueprint for how more (or less) humane prisons can be created, and then several personal accounts on this subject by people who have spent time in prison in different capacities. Of the latter group, a particularly interesting contribution is provided by Erwin James, who spent many years in prison as a life sentenced prisoner. James sets the tone for most other authors in the volume by arguing that although prisoners can cause each other great discomfort and harm, the majority of them want to use their time constructively, and it is the ‘in-built destructiveness’ of the system which prevents them from doing so. James argues that the system is intrinsically loaded against anyone succeeding, and that people who achieve, do so by overcoming unhelpful or obstructive prison staff, stifling bureaucracy, faceless decision making and harsh living conditions. Two of the main challenges to humane prisons are common to the prison systems on both sides of the Atlantic, as noted by Terry A. Kupers, who writes about American prisons, and Anne Owers, who writes about those in England and Wales. These challenges are the continuing overcrowding of prisons and, largely as a result of this, the growing number of prisoners who experience serious mental health problems and do not receive proper treatment in prison. As these authors note, the prison population in the USA has recently climbed above two million and UK prisons are already 24% overpopulated, and in both countries the process of over-incarceration does not seem likely to decline in the near future. While the damaging impact of overcrowding is quite obvious, David Jones draws attention to some of the less explicit and more controversial threats to the humane condition of prisons. One of those threats is the huge emphasis on security. Jones argues that: ‘To produce a humane environment and therapeutic benefit it is necessary to allow some risk within the security of the perimeter wall’ (p. 33). Jones also attacks the strong managerialist orientation of the prison service with its focus on protocols, procedures, bureaucracy, mission statements and audits. He illustrates the ways in which this can not only feed into the ‘prevailing mode of cynicism and demoralization’ (p. 38), but also shift the focus of attention from vulnerable individuals to completing the right forms and ticking the right boxes. It is to Jones's credit as an editor that, despite these views, he is not afraid to allow voices different from his own. In particular, Peter Bennett, who writes about governing Grendon prison, and Sarah Tucker and Adrian Worrall, writing about the peer review and accreditation of prison-based therapeutic communities, insist that performance targets, a strong focus on measurement, and periodic audits can help achieve and sustain more humane regimes. Many of the authors in the volume make links between humane conditions and the treatment orientation of prisons. In other words, they assume that prisons which have a strong focus on treatment and rehabilitation will be more humane. A somewhat different view is implied in one of the most powerful essays in the book by Sunny Marriner and Dawn Moore, who describe how good intentions to improve and adjust women's prisons in Canada to suit the special needs of female prisoners, in reality made things worse. One of their criticisms revolves around the ambivalent role of officers as helpers. They argue that in some of the more intrusive treatment programmes, a high level of physical control ‘combined with heightened, and often involuntary, emotional vulnerability can obfuscate the boundaries between safe and unsafe exposure in a manner that may be eerily reminiscent of the originating abuse’ (p. 123). This sounds like some of the liberal anti-rehabilitation voices of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Most of the other contributors, however, are more convinced that treatment programmes in general and therapeutic communities in particular, do provide a more humane regime than mainstream prisons. The editor and many of the authors also seem to share the assumption that, in the current political climate, the promotion of more humane prisons cannot occur without some of its extra benefits being demonstrated, either in terms of financial gains or offender rehabilitation. Bennett, for example, writes that ‘it goes without saying that the justification underlying the humane treatment of prisoners is that humane containment and positive regimes lead to a successful resettlement and lower reconviction rates’ (p. 132). To be fair to Bennett, Jones and the other authors, they seem to see the financial gains and offender rehabilitation as extra benefits and not as the only justification for keeping prison humane. However, this form of promotion of humane regimes, even if understandable given the current public atmosphere, is somewhat dangerous: if treatment proves ineffective or costly, the justification to maintain humane prisons is lost. Again, to the credit of the editor, the volume discusses more than the difficulties and challenges to humanity in prisons. Some of the authors provide practical ideas about how to create more humane prisons. Anne Owers, the Chief Inspector of Prisons in England and Wales, describes the contribution of the independent inspection of prisons in the UK to some significant improvements in healthcare facilities, and in education and training, and Kimmett Edgar provides some practical tips as to how to resolve prisoner conflicts before they escalate into violence. The book could do with even more practical suggestions of this kind, but overall it is a valuable contribution to an important subject which does not receive much attention in current criminal justice debate.

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