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18 How. J. Penology & Crime Prevention 1 (1979)

handle is hein.journals/hjcj18 and id is 1 raw text is: League Leader (A column of individual comments on current issues contributed by the Director of the Howard League for Penal Reform, by members of the Council of the League, or by the Editor of the Howard Journal.) Prisons - Good Buy? In February 1977 the Government White Paper on Expenditure contained the prognosis that the number of persons in custody would continue to rise and that Because of restraints in expenditure there will be some decline in prison life and the state of the buildings (The Treasury 1977). The House of Commons Expenditure Committee's Sub-Committee on Education, Arts and the Home Office considered this an unacceptable situation and decided to investigate possible ways of reducing the pressure on the prisons and so reversing this dangerous and self- perpetuating trend. The inquiry was set up in October 1977 and evidence was received from some 21 organisations, including the Howard League. Custodial institutions throughout England, Scotland, Sweden and the U.S.A. were also studied and visited. The Committee's final report (House of Commons 1978) was published in September 1978, and has been welcomed by the Howard League and other organisations as a concise guide to areas of the penal system that need action. It is not a radical document - it appears to accept, for example, the Home Office opinion that a direct switch of resources to non-custodial measures would be unrealistic - but it is to be hoped that its very moderation will improve its prospects of acceptance, and it is up to interested groups, and M.P.s and other individuals, to make sure that its wide purview does not provide an excuse for ignoring the well-aimed proposals it makes on specific issues. The first and most obvious suggestion to relieve the pressure on our prisons was to reduce their overcrowding. The provision of alternative options for committal for the substantial number of offenders for whom prison is generally accepted as inappropriate was strongly recommended. They include detoxification centres for alcoholics, secure units in psychiatric hospitals for the seriously mentally disordered and supportive hostels for the disturbed and inadequate people who without such help become a nuisance to society. It is the funding of these projects which remains unresolved. In suggesting that they should continue to be essentially the responsibility of the D.H.S.S. or voluntary services the urgency of the need for change may have been overlooked. Without a substantial reallocation of Home Office finance these constructive recommendations are unlikely to be fully implemented. The report also makes the pointed suggestion that the judiciary should be made more aware of the reality of prison conditions, of the shortage of accommodation and how overcrowding and the pressures on staff make their rehabilitative function counter-effective. This I

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