Yorkshire Philosophical Society

Event Information

Moral and Philosophical Problems of Long-Term Imprisonment

A lecture by Professor Alison Liebling, University of Cambridge

Considerable policy and scholarly interest in the treatment of long-term prisoners in conditions of high security existed throughout the 1970s to 90s, often precipitated by major calamitous events. It has been a major theme of official discourse on the treatment of long-term prisoners since then that ‘a viable life’ and the preservation of dignity are important principles to adhere to in policy and practice. This morality is under threat.

Report

Professor Liebling was the first director in 2000 of the Prisons Research Centre at the Institute of  Criminology.  The overarching theme of the Centre’s research programme is “What shapes prison life?”

Two current projects are a return study at HMP Whitemore in Cambridgeshire, and a first time study of HMP Full Sutton, near York. When the team returned to Whitemore in 2009 they found a changed world, with Muslims representing 40% of the prison population. This brought concerns about extremist influences but they also found that the Muslim ethic supports the idea of trust: essential in the building of relationships between prisoners and staff. Interestingly, while faith has become less significant in the outside world, it is very important to the majority of long-term prisoners.

Along with the central theme of two-way trust, some other ideas stood out. High security prisoners have been spread among more prisons which allows more chance of developing relationships with staff, and is considered a key element in improving long-term imprisonment conditions and outcomes. There is an ethos of combining security with humanity and officers are encouraged to actually get to know prisoners – prison experience tends to undermine moral development with lack of hope and a fear of violence. Over-application of procedures can kill the human spirit, but the whole issue of developing trust can be controversial. Professor Liebling expressed optimism for the future, based on findings at Full Sutton.

The Institute of Criminology website www.crim.cam.uk/research/prc/publications contains downloadable annual reports of the Prisons Research Centre.

[Second in the series on Justice]

Ken Hutson