Crime, Reoffending and Rehabilitation

Lord Woolf Excerpts

Thursday 30th June 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Woolf (CB)]

My Lords, it is with some hesitation that I rise to my feet to talk. There was a time—the noble Lord, Lord Farmer, has identified that time—when I knew a lot about prisons. However, that time has long passed and I have now got to a stage where, I am afraid, I would have difficulty in identifying the large number of prisons I visited, both in this country and abroad.

However, I am sure that having this debate is of great value, because it gives people who are aware of the current situation an opportunity of explaining the problems that we have. As the people who visit prisons constantly find, the experience is shockingly sad, given the fact that it has resulted in the situation today. Bearing in mind the vast sums of money that are spent on our prisons and the criminal justice system in general, it is extraordinarily sad that we cannot make a bigger impression. I believe that we can, and that the money could be deployed.

I also believe there is a very simple answer: we have to find the resistance to the siren song that comes out from the media asking for longer and longer sentences. The message we need is that we must reduce the need for the length of sentences we already have. What can be achieved by our Prison Service at present could be achieved without extending the length of sentences, if only the culture would change. I hope our new Minister, who I hope will have continuing responsibility for this, realises that we have to change the culture. Nothing less than that will achieve the result we all want.

Of course, there will be opposition. When I retired from being a judge, the department of the courts that looks after public relations sent me a little present. It was one of those shields that you get if you play rugby or some other team sport, and it said in the middle “Hated by the Daily Mail”. I regard that as a considerable honour, and it is the one thing I got that I have treasured ever since, because it told me that I did at least some things right in the office I was privileged to hold.

I am very grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Farmer, for his kind remarks on my now ancient report into the prison situation that existed after the prison riots in 1990, in particular in Strangeways prison. At that time, it was remarkable how many worthy people were working hard to try to make the system work, but they unfortunately found that they could not fight against it. If we could get across the message that it is possible to make a change, we could produce improvements. Every now and then, we have marvellous examples of the best possible practice. The noble Lord, Lord Lilley, was talking about another example: they come into existence, prosper for a time and then, I am afraid, disappear from sight—despite everyone’s efforts.

To conclude, every word I have heard in this debate was absolutely right. Noble Lords have identified the nature of the problem and what can be done about it. Somehow or another, we have to change public attitudes, so that politicians feel that this is what they must bring about. I thank the noble Lord for giving us this opportunity. I wish that every word your Lordships have said is heard by the widest possible audience.