How prisons teach inmates that crime pays

John Major is wrong when he suggests only violent offenders should be automatically locked up – and as a non-violent ex-offender I should know. But focusing on the number of prisoners in Britain is a distraction from the real issue: reoffending. British prisons churn out prisoners who simply go on to commit more crime. Given what goes on behind bars, it’s little surprise.

A functioning, effective prison system should teach inmates to respect rules and behave in a proper manner so that they are more likely to be productive and law-abiding members of society on release. Many prisoners, however, learn a different lesson in jail: that breaking rules pays off.

At HMP Wandsworth, where I spent time after being convicted of fraud, a prisoner assaulted his elderly cellmate so violently that the man was hospitalised. The prison responded to this by placing the offender in a single cell. Separating this man from others made sense, but ultimately it meant he was rewarded for his behaviour with privacy and more space.