UK Prisoners Go on Holiday

As prisoners in the United Kingdom near the end of their sentences, they are sometimes eligible to leave prison for a week or more at a stretch to perform community service and begin the process of reconnecting to their families and communities. The program isn’t new, but it’s drawing fresh criticism because its use has tripled in the last three years.

This holiday, however, doesn't look much like the photo at left.

The program isn’t markedly different from house arrest or conditional parole -- prisoners often perform community service or stay with family under strict rules. Critics of the program are stuck in a world of long sentences set in stone, and that's a mistake.

Programs like this should be available to prison administrators to offer reentry prisoners opportunities to transition successfully back to society. It must be carefully targeted at prisoners who deserve the privilege, however, and it should also be accompanied by state services, as we’ve seen that the first 48 hours are critical to a successful reentry.

Here’s how it works in the UK (via the Telegraph):

There are two types of "resettlement overnight release" (ROR) designed to help offenders gradually re-establish family and community links for when they are formally released.

One allows prisoners in Category C jails - the lowest level of closed prisons – or in open prisons to spend up to four nights away from their cells up to once a month to re-build relationships with families and neighbours. The scheme - which needs approval from prison governors - is available for the final two years of a sentence, meaning it can add up to 96 days.

The other type of overnight release is aimed at those in open jails - which can include even the most serious offenders as they approach the end of their sentences. They can apply to take part in up to four weeks of community service as they approach their release date.

Critics of the program are worried about violent criminals reentering society early and committing heinous crimes that could have been prevented. Of course there will be some crimes, just as there will be crimes from people who serve full sentences. Other critics say the British government claims ROR as a rehabilitation strategy when it’s really just a trick to ease overcrowding.

Lyn Costello, of Mothers Against Murder and Aggression, said releasing prisoners temporarily left the public feeling unsafe.

"If you get two years, you should serve two years, if you get 10 years you should serve 10 years, not have a little holiday break in between,” she said.

"These people are doing a community sentence away from prison but that is not what they received. They were given a prison sentence and that is what they should serve."

As I wrote above, individual cases should be carefully considered before a prisoner is approved for a program like ROR -- prisoners should earn the right to early release or a "holiday" by showing a commitment to education, job training and peaceful reintegration into a community. Just as mandatory sentences don’t work, neither do flat sentences that must be followed to the day. Everyone is different. Cases should be evaluated individually, there’s no way 10 years, or 20 years or 30 years are magic numbers for safety or rehabilitation.

Programs like ROR take a nuanced view of reentry, offering opportunities for prisons to build ties to a community before they walk out the door for good. These initiatives will be more effective than hard, unbending sentences 99 percent of the time. The 1 percent, however, make better headlines and will always be a challenge for reformers to overcome.

Photo by robertpaulyoung