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Inquiry Into the United Kingdom Prison Services, Volume 1 - Evidence by the Home Office, the Scottish Home and Health Department and the Northern Ireland Office - Introduction and Descriptive Papers

NCJ Number
70063
Date Published
1979
Length
167 pages
Annotation
As part of an inquiry into the problems of the Prison Services in the United Kingdom, this volume presents descriptive papers covering policy and practice, staff and industrial relations, organization, and finances.
Abstract
It includes a discussion on how the amount of crime and the response to it by the police and the courts contribute the 'input' to the prison systems of England and Wales. A supplementary paper notes that the Prison Service in Scotland stands in the same relationship to the criminal justice system and the courts as the Prison Service in England and Wales; the general factors which determine the size of the prison population are also the same. The concept of imprisonment in the United Kingdom is examined in regard to its purpose -- the discussion covering retribution, containment, deterrence, rehabilitation, treatment, and training; policy priorities are viewed from the standpoint of prison industries, inmate education, staff influence, visiting rights, and quality of life. Also discussed are the organization and management of the prison system, with separate papers on the prison systems of England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. Other papers examine public relations on penal matters, prison industries and farms, supply and transport, Home Office central management of Prison Service staff, the functions of regional Prison Service offices in England and Wales, and a prison management review (1971-74) for England and Wales. Finally, a series of papers on the resources of the prison system and the demands on it covers such topics as prison populations and forecasts, correctional facility planning, financial resources, and services to courts by the Prison Services. Extensive tabular, statistical, and graphic data are included, along with footnotes and organizational charts. For related volumes, see NCJ 70064 and 70065.