AO3 Custodial Sentencing

• -Negative effects of Custodial Sentencing. Bartol said prison is brutal, demeaning and generally devastating:

  Suicide rates in prisons are 9 times higher than general population.

  The Prison Reform Trust found that 25% of women and 15% of men in prison reported symptoms of psychosis (e.g. schizophrenia). This supports the view that oppressive prison regimes may be detrimental to psychological health which could impact on rehabilitation.
• +Negative effects from custodial sentencing or pre-existing? Many offenders may have had pre-existing psychological difficulties before prison, this may explain their offending behaviour in the first place. This suggests there may be confounding variables that influence the link between prison and its psychological effects.
• +Prisons provide training and treatment. The Vera Institute of Justice (Shirley) claims that offenders who take part in college education programmes are 43% less likely to reoffend following release. This will improve employment opportunities on release, which reduces likelihood of reoffending. This suggests prison may be a worthwhile experience assuming offenders are able to access these programmes.
• -Prisons are schools of crime. Incarceration with long-term offenders may give younger inmates in particular the opportunity to learn the 'tricks. of the trade from more experienced prisoners. Offenders may also acquire criminal contacts whilst in prison that they may follow up when they are released. This form of 'education' may undermine attempts to rehabilitate prisoners and consequently may make reoffending more likely.
• Purpose of Prisons

  In Onepoll survey, 47% of respondents saw the primary purpose of prison as being to punish the offender for their wrongdoing. However, another 40% held the view that prison's main emphasis should be on rehabilitation, so offenders can be effectively reintegrated back into society. This suggests custodial sentencing should be sufficiently tough to deter offenders but also offer a 'second chance' through training and treatment.