The prison population in England and Wales currently stands at 71,800. According to the Home Office estimate this figure is projected to rise to 83,500 by 2008. Similarly in Scotland, which has a separate legal system and its own private service, there are similar pressures. Prisons can be successful in their four aims: retribution, protection, deterrence and rehabilitation. Reconviction rates are at a substantial low, but is that enough? Whilst compared with the problems facing prisons a question arises, ˜is it really prisons Britain needs?' There are several other approaches to punishing, deterring and rehabilitating offenders whilst also protecting the public. These include the increasingly popular Community Punishment Order (CPO), previously known as Community Service. This involves the offender doing unpaid work that shall benefit the community, however this also entails the offender learning new skills. Otherwise we have the ever-prevalent fine. This requires the criminal to pay a sum of money, up to £5000, if sentenced by the Magistrates and there is no limit as to the maximum that can be imposed by Crown Courts. The success of fines is a much-debated issue. These are just a pair of alternative sentences; this essay will fully explore the concept that Britain needs more prisons. Is the Prison Service struggling to cope with the continuing rise of incarcerated criminals? Are prisons successful in their aims or are the alternatives the way forward? I wish to thoroughly analyse these questions to come to an adequate and reasoned conclusion based on the evidence I have acquired.
The prison population rate is projected to rise an amazing 16% in 6 years! Therefore there is currently a colossal strain facing the Prison Service, principally due to this ever-escalating incarceration rate. This is particularly accentuated whilst studying women. In November 2001 a third men's jail had to be converted to take female prisoners in response to a sizeable fluctuation in the female prison population.
