Drugs and violence are rife in our filthy, overcrowded prisons, and women and underage prisoners are treated badly by staff and other prisoners alike. The role of the criminal justice system in our society is to protect the public, and the prison's role in this system is to prevent the next crime, or the next victim, by helping prisoners to lead useful and law-abiding lives both in their time in prison and afterwards. Statistics show they are failing, and this book discusses how and why.
Sir David Ramsbotham, GCB CBE is an establishment figure and former Army general who was Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons for five and a half years. Seeking prison reform, he was a thorn in the side of Jack Straw's government just when they thought he was going to be submissive.