Infrastructure for prevention, not just infrastructure for punishment: Revolving Doors responds to start of prison early release scheme
The Government’s early release scheme goes live from today (1 October), with 2,000 people set to be released from prison earlier in their sentence, alongside a mass expansion of tagging in the community and a pledge to build 14,000 extra prison places over the next five years.
Revolving Doors Chief Executive Pavan Dhaliwal said:
“Protecting victims and managing people who pose a serious risk is fundamental. But we should not confuse surveillance with prevention. A tag can tell you where somebody is. It cannot give them a home, treat an addiction, improve their mental health or address the reasons they keep offending.
“For the thousands of people caught in the revolving door of crisis and crime, tighter restrictions on their own will simply manage the cycle rather than break it. The Government’s own evidence tells us that reducing reoffending requires stable accommodation, treatment, strong relationships and effective support in the community.
“And if we are going to massively expand electronic monitoring, we also need to be confident the system can deliver it. That means matching effective probation and proportionate supervision with health, housing, treatment and local services working together around the person. Greater Manchester is already testing that kind of whole-system approach. Government should be as ambitious about building the infrastructure for prevention as it is about building the infrastructure for punishment.”
