Charities are passionate about improving prisons and can help the 2,500 new officers think beyond their walls. It would be a mistake not to use our expertise
When the justice secretary, Liz Truss, launched her white paper on prison reform on 3 November, she referred to another Elizabeth: prison reformer Elizabeth Fry. In the 1800s, Fry campaigned passionately for a more human system and her spirit continues today, in more than 1,500 charities that are equally passionate. If she wants to reform the system, Truss has to place the voluntary sector front and centre.
The sector’s achievements include creating the probation service, introducing prison visiting, independent inspection of prisons, and ending the death penalty. It started the first service to support people’s re-entry into society in 1921. From the chaos of the Strangeways riots in the early 1990s we saw the emergence of proper family services. The pioneering work of the Young Review and organisations like the Trust, founded following the death of Zahid Mubarak, have tackled racism in our system head-on.
Continue reading...from Voluntary Sector Network | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2fj6Xfo
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