Prison Fellowship and Rethinking Crime Project fully support Prison Ombudsman

Kim Workman, National Director of Prison Fellowship, and Project Leader for the Rethinking Crime and Punishment Project, fully supports the Governments agreement with the Green Party to establish an Ombudsman for Prisons. The establishment of an Ombudsman for Prisons is a positive step toward ensuring that prison sentences are managed in a safe, secure, humane and effective way.

What has been needed for some years, is an external agency of review which is adequately resourced to investigate serious complaints. Of special importance is that the Prison Ombudsman will be able to look more closely at systemic issues. It is vital that the whole experience of custody is under scrutiny, because every part is likely to impact on prisoners in some way. In the past, investigations have focussed on the reactive investigation of complaints. The Prison Ombudsman will be able to look at broader issues, including systemic administrative and organisational failure, either within a particular prison, or across the department.

The will of government to promote and maintain the humanity of both prisoners and staff in closed institutions, enhances our standing as a nation. Any measure that ensures prison function as places where staff and prisoners alike are treated as fellow human beings possessed of dignity and worth, will contribute to the reduction of reoffending. Serious offenders are invariably poor citizens. Prisons therefore, must model good citizenship. If offenders perceive that staff generally perform their duties in a lawful, respectful and intelligent manner, then that is the most effective intervention prison management can make.

ENDS

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