NCJ Number
158675
Date Published
1989
Length
22 pages
Annotation
This report argues that prison conditions in England can significantly change before the next century and that the adoption and implementation of a code of minimum standards would bring change about more swiftly.
Abstract
In 1984, the government retracted its own earlier public commitment to produce a code of minimum standards for prisons. In the same year, the National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders produced a draft code of minimum standards. This code met with widespread favorable response, but the government's view was that in existing conditions such standards would not work. This report presents a step-by-step program for practical change over 8 years. It includes a timetable that includes alternative practical options to improve core conditions and details interim stages of change; examines current experiences in improving conditions; describes the advantages, practical problems, and implications of various options for different types of establishment; and discusses strategies for achieving minimum standards for prison conditions. It notes that the options for material improvement will involve considerable capital investment in the near future, that a greater sense of urgency is needed about improving prison conditions, and that the overriding importance of correctional personnel must be recognized. Figures, chart, and list of information sources