Why Focus On Bigger And Bigger Prisons?

A letter in the Guardian today:

The new building programme designed to increase prisons' capacity to 96,000 places will institutionalise Britain's shameful position as the prison capital of Europe. This greatly expanded prison system will absorb vast resources that are needed for offenders' rehabilitation, crime prevention and victim support ... The government's strategy should be based on jailing only those who are a serious danger to others. Additional resources would then be freed for community supervision of offenders, prisoners' resettlement, preventive work with young people and services for victims.

Paul Cavadino
Chief executive, Nacro