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Issue No. 91 Autumn 2024
Paul Laxton
WELCOME TO LORD TIMPSON ••• BUT REMEMBER,
'IT'S THE HOPE THAT KILLS YOU'
Can any of you actually remember the names of the many Prisons Ministers over the past three decades? These are the ones I can remember; Ann Widdecombe, Baroness Scotland, Andrew Selous, Rory Stewart and Gerry Sutcliffe. No prizes for additional names, but if you can lengthen that list, then you were certainly paying attention at the back. Of those on my list, none of them made it to cabinet status. Well done to you if you can name one that did. Ann Widdecombe went on to Strictly Come Dancing and Reform UK, Baroness Scotland went on to become a rather controversial Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Rory Stewart had a rather optimistic tilt at the Tory leadership, and Gerry Sutcliffe, a most affable fellow, is largely remembered only by those who tried to keep up with him at the bar. Andrew Selous was my personal favourite. I chaired four conferences and have attended twenty-seven since my first in 1996, and I can say without hesitation that Mr Selous was the most courteous guest speaker ever to address Conference. He was a Chairman's dream; short speech and plenty of time for questions which were answered crisply.
So why should we welcome Lord Timpson to a role in which no-one seems to make an impact? To start with the family shoe firm employs ex-offenders who comprise around 10% of company employees: resettlement in action, not words. Lord Timpson understands that the upward trend of punitive sentencing over the last three decades has had little or no impact on the prevalence of crime and that recidivism amongst petty nuisance offenders is best tackled by actions in the community that give the offender an opportunity to change their lives; housing, employment and effective support and supervision. Drug treatment is most effective delivered in the community, and massively cheaper. Defacto we have arrived at a situation whereby custodial sentences of less than 12 months are suspended, something forced on the government, but something they would be well advised to continue other than for civil matters such as Contempt of Court. Lord Timpson is right when he says we are addicted to punishment.
In the end a real change of direction will depend on lord Timpson's boss, the new Justice Secretary, Shabana Mahmood. She has taken the emergency measures to reduce the population to safer levels, but remains committed to the provision of the 14,000 of the new places that the Tories failed to deliver, mainly caused by the sclerotic planning system, which Rachel Reeves has vowed to rectify. The real question is whether we should increase the size of the estate at all, and instead consider a lower population housed entirely in single cell accommodation with full access to safe and positive regimes. There is a real opportunity to end the 30 year race to the ultra-punitive bottom started by Michael Howard.
Will it happen? Like I said, 'It's the hope that kills you.'
PAUL LAXTON, EDITOR
Spring 2023
PENSIONERS UNDER SIEGE?
Many of you will have seen the outrageous suggestion from a 'think tank' called the Adam Smith Institute that state pensions should be denied to those pensioners whose wealth measured in terms of pensions and property exceeds a million pounds. I was immediately struck by the .........
