FROM A RAPT GRAD
Posted on 24/01/2007 by Paul McAlister ( Wandsworth Prison)

Regarding the question is addiction a disease I would like to say that I was insane when I was in full blown addiction to my drug of choice - crack - I also believe I have some incurable genetic defects. I was a sick person for many years . I am pleased to say that I am now in remission from my illness on a daily basis. I will leave you with this question. Is it not better to err on the side of caution? that is to say addiction is an illness even if the person is healthy?

I am now 14 months clean thanks to the RAPt programme.

HOT POTATO COLD POTATO
Posted on 25/10/2006 by Jessica Berens

HOW TO REDUCE RE-OFFENDING?
The following are highlights from a recent House of Commons debate where Parliamentary Under-Secretary Gerry Sutcliffe fielded questions about crime, drugs and prisons.

Gerry Sutcliffe (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Home Office)
The criminal justice review, "Rebalancing the criminal justice system in favour of the law-abiding majority", published in July this year, sets out how we will improve the effectiveness of the criminal justice system to cut crime and reduce reoffending. Our aim is to reduce reoffending by 10 per cent by 2010 through rolling out a new system of managing offenders to protect the public, and helping ex-offenders to reintegrate successfully into society.

David Davis (Haltemprice & Howden, Conservative)
In the nine years since this Government have been in power, reoffending by prisoners has increased from 58 to 67 per cent. That is the largest increase since records began. What is the reason for it?

Gerry Sutcliffe (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Home Office)
What the shadow Home Secretary did not mention is that prison places and the capacity in prisons have increased. It is all part of the equation, and the shadow Home Secretary picks figures to the benefit of his argument and does not give the whole picture. We must make sure that dangerous and persistent offenders are in prison, which is what we are doing. That is why we have increased prison capacity by 19,000 since 1997, with 8,000 places announced in July. We are serious about tackling reoffending, and it will be interesting to see whether the shadow Home Secretary supports us when we introduce the national offender management Bill. What we are doing is trying to tackle reoffending through various alliances, and tackling persistent and dangerous offenders by putting those people in prison and increasing prison capacity. We are also introducing the national offender management scheme.

Nicholas Clegg (Sheffield, Hallam, Liberal Democrat)
The Minister will no doubt be aware of the Home Office's statistics showing that violence in our prisons has risen six fold since 1997, such that an incident of violence occurs in our prisons every 30 minutes. Does he agree that violence inside our prisons begets violence outside prisons, committed by those who reoffend?

Gerry Sutcliffe (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Home Office)
What we must do is protect the public by making sure that sufficient prison places are available for the increase in the prison population. Clearly, I am concerned about violence in prisons, which is why we need to examine the nature of the prison population and what we can do. It appears that the Liberals do not want to hear the answer, and just want to pursue a particular track. We are keen to make sure that we tackle reoffending through a variety of means and protect the public from dangerous and persistent offenders, and we will continue to do so.

Humfrey Malins (Woking, Conservative)
To reduce drug-related crime, the Government introduced drug treatment and testing orders, but those were a failure because of a reoffending rate of more than 78 per cent. over two years, and because most of the orders were either breached or revoked. The Government have moved on from drug treatment and testing orders to drug rehabilitation requirements. What is different about those sentences from the earlier failed ones that gives the Minister confidence?

Gerry Sutcliffe (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Home Office)
I am confident that more than 13,000 offenders are completing drug treatment in prison and in the community. We are considering anything that we can do to try to get people off drugs, because we know that those who take drugs are more likely to reoffend. The programmes are in place, and I am happy with what we are trying to achieve. Despite the capacity problems in prisons, we are trying to tackle drugs.

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