*** DEBUG START ***
*** DEBUG END ***

Bishop for prisons worried by sentencing of August rioters

21 August 2024

She calls for ‘more creative’ approach to criminal justice in light of overcrowding

Alamy

The Justice Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, on a visit last month to HMP Bedford, with its governor, Sarah Bott

The Justice Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, on a visit last month to HMP Bedford, with its governor, Sarah Bott

RIOTERS “need to bear the consequences” of their actions, the Bishop of Gloucester, the Rt Revd Rachel Treweek, said on Tuesday. But she also called for a “more creative” — and more effective — approach to criminal justice in the light of the UK’s overcrowded prisons.

The conviction and sentencing of people involved in violent disorder in England and Northern Ireland earlier this month (News, 9 August) has put additional pressure on the prison system.

On Monday, the Prime Minister said that the disorder was “intolerable” and “clearly racist”. As of Wednesday, 139 people had been sent to prison and 13 to a young-offenders institution for their part in the unrest. Many more people are due to be sentenced over the coming weeks.

Bishop Treweek, the Church’s lead bishop for prisons, told the Church Times that she was “hugely” disquieted by the sentencing of young people, and expressed concern about whether custodial sentences were helpful in the long term.

“I don’t know all the details of the people who have been sent to prison, but why are we not making far more use of electronic tagging, giving people sentences in the community that will address issues of anger or certain political views?

“Working with people in the community in a holistic way . . . will build far stronger stronger communities,” she said. She lsted the damage caused by sending people to prison: separation of families, loss of income, and “extra trauma” to children whose parent is incarcerated.

Besides the social cost of imprisonment, there is a financial cost, she said, of more than £50,000 per year. While it was necessary to “separate people from the public if they are genuinely dangerous”, there was an economic as well as moral basis for looking at alternatives to custodial sentences for some crimes, she said.

Emergency measures, known as Operation Early Dawn, were activated this week, which allow defendants on remand to be held in police cells until prison places are available. Announcing the introduction of the measures, the Prisons Minister, Lord Timpson, said: “We inherited a justice system in crisis and exposed to shocks. As a result, we have been forced into making difficult but necessary decisions to keep it operating.”

In the first days of the new Government, the Justice Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, said that 5500 prisoners would be released early — after serving 40 per cent of their sentence — to ease overcrowding. She described the situation in prisons as a “ticking time bomb”.

The releases, limited to those who had committed certain offences only, are expected to take place in September and October.

Bishop Treweek welcomed the move, but reiterated calls made in the House of Lords for the prison system to be radically reconsidered (News, 26 July).

“I don’t think we are grappling with the nub of the question, which is ‘how do we build stronger communities, and what are prisons for?’” she said on Tuesday.

She is convening round-table meetings in Parliament to bring together “people of influence” within the criminal-justice system, to discuss what systemic change might look like.

At the local level, she said, churches can help by getting involved in schemes such as the Welcome Directory and the Community Chaplaincy Association, which support those leaving prison.

Working in prisons, or for the probation service, was not often spoken about as a vocation, she said; but “if we believe that at the heart of the gospel is reconciliation and transformation, then surely we should be encouraging Christians” to get involved with this work.

It was important for victims as well as for offenders for the criminal-justice system to be effective in “transforming” people. If not, reoffending rates would remain high and victims would continue to suffer.

Leader comment


Prison to pilot WTC theology course

THE director of a new theology course designed for prisoners has welcomed the enthusiasm of HM Prison the Mount, in Hemel Hempstead, which is helping to test and develop the programme (News, 19 July).

A pilot of the course, which is being offered by WTC Theology (formerly Westminster Theological Centre), is due to begin at the Mount in 2026. In the mean time, staff at WTC and a steering committee, which includes ex-offenders, are developing the curriculum.

As a Certificate of Higher Education, the qualification is equivalent to the first year of a bachelor’s degree. WTC’s Prison’s Programme Director, Sarah Coppin, said on Tuesday that the prison had “flung their doors wide open” to the proposal, as “it ticks two boxes”.

She said: “Spirituality is generally considered holistic and helpful in that sector, but it’s also education which can help with future prospects like jobs, or if they want to go to university having a Certificate of Higher Education will help with almost any humanities degree.”

WTC is aiming to raise £83,000 to fund the course. It already manages a bursary for people released from prison to help them study to theology. Twenty-five have done so since the scheme began in 2015.

The in-prison course came about, Ms Coppin explained, when a “whole lot of things aligned, and we thought ‘This is God’”.

The inmates themselves were among the instigators: they were, she said, “hungry” to study theology in a structured way. WTC plans to offer seminars in the Mount this autumn, as part of its development of the formal course.

wtctheology.org.uk

Browse Church and Charity jobs on the Church Times jobsite

Forthcoming Events

Women Mystics: Female Theologians through Christian History

13 January - 19 May 2025

An online evening lecture series, run jointly by Sarum College and The Church Times

tickets available

 

Festival of Faith and Literature

28 February - 2 March 2025

tickets available

 

Visit our Events page for upcoming and past events 

Welcome to the Church Times

 

To explore the Church Times website fully, please sign in or subscribe.

Non-subscribers can read four articles for free each month. (You will need to register.)