Prison System in England and Wales Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Prison System in England and Wales - Essay Example Hence, the crux of this paper concerns the possible solution of prison crisis through the increase in number of prisons after analysing the major causes of the problem so as to examine the best possible solution of the problem in the truest sense. Effective management of prisons is one of the greatest issues confronting any country in the world. Number of prisoners is increasing in all parts of the world exacerbating the crisis in the form of inefficient management, prisoner suicides, aggression, deteriorating hygienic condition and ineffective provision of educational facilities to prisoners. The condition in the prisons of England and Wales is no different; rather it is worse than many developed countries in the world and the most significant issue behind this crisis happens to be massive overcrowding in prisons soaring at a rapid rate. The prisons in England and Wales are severely overcrowded. According to Press Release (2002), the number of people in prisons exceeded 71,500 in 2002, which was about 45,800 in the year 1992. This reveals that the number of people in prison had almost doubled within a span of just 10 years, which in itself was a record. Within Western Europe, the rate of increase in the number of prisoners is the highest, which stood at 134 per 100,000 in the year 2002, and reached 141 per 100,000 in 2004 (National Offender Management Service, 2005). Prisons have no choice but to admit more and more people as court commands people to be incarcerated every day against different criminal charges. According to Page (2003), the number of women prisoners in 1992 was 1300, while it reached 4000 in the year 2002. It shows that the number of women in prisons has risen by about 3 times during a single decade. The number of children under the age of 18 has also increased three times over the last decade. Moreover, the number of old prisoners over the age of 60 in the year 1989 was 345, which after ten years rose to 1000. This is an alarming condition and if it continues in the same direction there is a threat that it will cripple the entire criminal justice system in England and Wales (Press Release, 2002). This menace is further exacerbated with expected rise in the number of prisoners in future. The government opines that the number of prisoners in UK will reach 100,000 by the year 2010 (Page, 2003). If this prediction becomes true, the situation and environment in prisons will further be worsened, as the system is not capable to bear pressure of soaring prison population to such an extent. With the increasing number of prisoners to be fitted in the same number of prisons and cells, the prisoners are being located in narrow cells that are not designed for two or three persons at the same time. The number of beds, toilets and other facilities intended for a single person are to be shared by more than one. According to a report by House of Lords/House of Commons Joint Committee on Human Rights (2004), this surging number of prisoners has caused massive overcrowding in prisons and about 17000 prisoners happen to have been accommodated two in a cell designed for one. National Offender Management Service (2005, p16) states that, "the ten most overcrowded prisons in England in 2004 accounted for 5,900 out of the 18,400 prisoners required to share a cell in crowded conditions". The