Prison Case Study

Categories and costs

Prisoner security categories are used as an assessment system to assign convicts to a category that is appropriate for their crime and/or for the safety of the public. There are four categories, each with their own criteria. The category a prisoner falls under depends on the nature of their crimes along with the potential danger to the community if they were to abscond from the prison . A convict’s category will be assessed once they first enter prison, the assessors within the prison service will consider the inmates likelihood of inflicting harm upon themselves or others. These categories are for prisoners who have been deemed mentally or physically able. These categories fall in to one of two prison types; open or closed prisons. Open prisons are institutions where prisoners have more freedoms and are able to move freely around their settings, prisoners will only be placed in Open Prisons if staff considers them as trustworthy. Lastly, closed prisons are considerably more secure and inmates must follow a strict schedule.

Category A (Male Adults)

Prisoners placed in this category are considered likely to attempt to abscond from prison and believed to be at the highest risk to public safety amongst all categories. With this in mind, the highest of possible security measures are in place in order to reduce the possibility of a prisoner trying to escape (Offenders’ Families Helpline, no date).

Within Category A, there were approximately 3,300 convicts incarcerated during 2012/13. The price per place within this category is estimated around £60,000, with a total annual expenditure of £193,605,592.

Category B (Male Adults)

Although not seen as dangerous as category A prisoners, Inmates placed in this categ...

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...ed. This is believed to be a result of families being considered as “unwanted” people within the community, associated with the costs of imprisonment to families.

Prisoners’ Rights

The issue of rights for people imprisoned revolves around benefits and voting. Although the purpose of prison is to remove a person’s liberties and freedoms, some believe that they should not be eligible for family benefits and the right to vote. However, a criticism of this is that although they are imprisoned, they still deserve access to basic human rights, which includes freedom of speech, allowing them to vote.

Ex-Inmates

Depending on the severity of their crimes, ex-inmates may experience adverse social conditions. This includes a high volume of unemployment as a result of their criminal records, poor housing as they are unlikely to be able to afford appropriate living standards.