Being tough on crime means doing more than locking people up

We spend less time asking whether the things we call “tough” are actually working.

I believe in prison. If you commit a serious crime, you should lose your liberty. Dangerous people need locking up. That part is straightforward.

But if we arrest someone, prosecute them, lock them up, release them and then watch them commit another crime, how tough is that really?

The latest Ministry of Justice figures show that 68.2% of adults released after prison sentences of less than a year go on to commit a proven reoffence. In another recent cohort, offenders with 11 or more previous offences were responsible for more than 80% of all adult proven reoffences.

We’re catching the same people, putting them through the courts and sending them back to prison.

And each time that happens, there’s another victim.

I’ve seen for myself that it doesn’t have to be like this.

I set up The Fork in the Road restaurant in Middlesbrough to train and employ people who had experienced homelessness, addiction and the criminal justice system. We employed ex-offenders. At one point we even had a serving prisoner coming out on day release who effectively ran the restaurant.

This wasn’t some fluffy charitable exercise.

They had to turn up on time. Work hard. Behave properly. Take responsibility. If they messed up, there were consequences.

Basically, they were treated like anyone else.

And I saw people change. In fact, some of the people we employed from prison, or who came to us with other serious problems in their lives, were among the most committed and reliable staff we had. Frankly, some were better employees than people we’d hired through more conventional routes.

It also showed me how badly we sometimes set people up when they leave prison.

You come out with no proper job, nowhere decent to live, not much money, broken relationships and maybe problems with drugs or alcohol. Then you go straight back to the same mates and the same chaos you left behind.

And we’re surprised when it goes wrong.

I’ve spent years working with people at risk of homelessness. Chaos breeds chaos. If you want somebody to live differently, you have to help them build a life they don’t want to throw away.

So yes, let’s be tougher. But let’s also be more prepared to help.

Prisoners should be expected to work, learn and get ready for life outside. I’d have far more vocational training, properly managed day release for suitable prisoners and much stronger links between prisons and employers.

And before anyone walks out through the prison gate, I’d want three questions answered.

Where are you sleeping?

What are you doing tomorrow morning?

Who is making sure you actually do it?

A home and a job won’t fix everybody. Of course they won’t. But work, structure and responsibility give people a much better chance.

That matters when our prisons are already full.

Yes, we need more capacity. I think lower-category prison places could be created much faster and more cheaply than they are now. But if we keep building more cells without doing anything serious about reoffending, we’re spending a fortune housing the same people over and over again.

Rehabilitation isn’t left-wing or right-wing.

If you want the compassionate argument, it’s that people deserve a chance to rebuild their lives.

If you want the hard-headed argument, I’d rather have an ex-prisoner working, earning, paying tax and looking after their family than committing another burglary while the rest of us pay for the police, the courts and another spell inside.

But the biggest point is simpler than either of those.

Being tough on crime isn’t about how angry we sound or how many people we manage to lock up.

It’s about stopping the next crime from happening.

Because every time we do that, there’s one less victim.

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Andy Preston is a political commentator.

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