UK: Life prisoners exceed 4000
01 January 1999
The number of life prisoners in England and Wales exceeded 4,000 for the first time at the end of 1998 according to a report published by the Prison Reform Trust, Prisoners' views of the lifer system. The report notes that the number of life prisoners in England and Wales exceeds the combined total for the remainder of western Europe. Commenting on the report, Stephen Shaw, director of the Prison Reform Trust (PRT), said:
"No other country in Europe has to cope with such a large lifer population. We are rapidly following in the footsteps of the USA where there are growing numbers of "pensioner prisoners" serving life sentences."
The research, which included interviews with 89 men serving life sentences at Wormwood Scrubs, Leyhill, Ford and Blantyre House prisons, found that the system for lifers is "frequently haphazard, inconsistent and chaotic." It argues that many lifers are "unclear about how the lifer review process works" and that information is "hit and miss" with life prisoners "not receiving feedback from the review process." It also notes that "staff dealing with lifers...do not receive any specific training" and that "little effort is made to encourage contact and support from family and friends."
The annual general meeting of the National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders (NACRO), heard last November that the use of imprisonment in England and Wales is "beginning to overtake that of eastern bloc countries like Bulgaria." The meeting was told by Wendy Singh, vice-chair of Penal Reform International, that "Over the last six years the prison population of England and Wales has been one of the fastest growing in the world...it has risen by over 60 per cent from 40,000 to over 65,000". She compared the figures with Bulgaria where the rate of imprisonment is "now lower than in England and Wales" and Poland where the "rate of imprisonment still exceeds that of England and Wales [but] on present trends this may not be so for much longer." The meeting was also addressed by Labour MP, Chris Mullen, Chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee, who argued that the figures make it "of paramount importance to investigate credible alternatives to custody and to use them wherever appropriate."
Clare Sparks "Prisoner' views of the lifer system: policy v Reality" (Prison Reform Trust/Prisoners' Advice Service) 1998 pp44, ISBN 0 946209 43X £5.95; Prison Reform Trust press release 11.1.99; NACRO press release 10.11.98.