Prisoner's Week begins on Sunday.
When it comes to the attitude of society to those in prison and the actions of the Scottish Prison Service, today I'm angry.
It's terrible that the families of criminals are the forgotten victims. Some people won't have much concern for them, but I really believe that we need to grow in compassion and understanding. I was challenged over the summer to remember that a large number of the heroes of our Faith were murderers or criminals of some sort - God uses such as these as they experience love and turn from their ways.
Don't get me wrong, criminals ought to be punished. That's why they are sent to jail - separated from family, friends and the rest of us, they pay the penalty that the courts determine. But what goes largely unseen is the ongoing stigma of being "an ex-offender" and the huge emotional, spiritual and physical cost to their families.
Take this example: a prisoner receives a letter from the bank he has banked with all his life, telling him that they no longer want his business. The local bank manager and regional manager aren't happy about this decision, but it seems that the decision has been taken further up the food chain. Of course, any business can choose the people it deals with. In this instance, further stress and embarrassment is caused to an already devastated family. The bank concerned happens to be the one I have banked with for forty years. I wonder whether I ought to withdraw my business from them and explain why I am doing so?
Or this: at a case conference, a family is given to understand that the prisoner concerned will be staying at the local prison and not shifted to the other end of the country. This gives a little comfort to all concerned. The next morning, the prisoner is told to get his stuff together because he is being moved to the other end of the country that afternoon. Now, maybe that's part of the punishment - don't let prisoners get too comfortable. I can get that. And if there was no possibility of rehabilitation locally, I'd even get that. But what about the expense in money and time it involves for families? Convicted prisoners get three forty-five minute visits per month. If they are incarcerated locally, that means those visits are likely to be filled. If they are many miles away, what with work commitments and the cost, many families will struggle to visit so regularly.
Frankly, this way of handling things might all be part of the penalty imposed but I think that the second example could easily count as "cruel and unusual punishment". It does little to help a prisoner's rehabilitation and even less for a family struggling to work out how they might be together in the future.
According to the vision of the Scottish Prison Service they aspire
- to Care for prisoners with humanity;
- to provide prisoners with a range of Opportunity to exercise personal responsibility and to prepare for release
I fail to see how this kind of treatment fulfils either of those visions.
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