Prison Rules: A Working Guide, The Millenium Edition

22 Prison Rules: A Working GuidePART IIPRISONERSGENERALPurpose of prison training and treatment3. The purpose of the training and treatment of convicted prisoners shall be toencourage and assist them to lead a good and useful life.The whole of this publication could easily have been devoted to thepurpose of prison. This section therefore merely summarises the debate.The Prison Service issued its Statement of Purpose in 1988. It is ondisplay in all Prison Service buildings and states: “Her Majesty’s PrisonService serves the public by keeping in custody those committed by thecourts. Our duty is to look after them with humanity and to help them leadlaw-abiding and useful lives in custody and after release.” The Governmentstill shows no inclination to incorporate this Statement of Purpose into thePrison Rules, and references to Rule 3 in official statements are few and farbetween. The Prison Service Review at the end of 1997 repeated calls for thePrison Service to have clear Visions, Goals, and Values, and that KeyPerformance Indicators should be reviewed to be more closely linked withthese.The Prison Service now seems to have a ‘plethora of Visions, AimsObjectives, Values, and Principles. Besides the Statement of Purpose for thePrison Service issued previously, the Home Secretary issued a separateStatement of Purpose for the Home Office, of which the Prison Service is anExecutive Agency. This Purpose is: “To build a safe, just, and tolerantsociety in which the rights and responsibilities of individuals, families, andcommunities are properly balanced, and the protection and security of thepublic are maintained.” The Home Secretary set seven Aims to achieve theStatement of Purpose. Aim 4 specifically relates to the work of the Prisonand Probation Services, namely “Effective execution of the sentences of thecourts so as to reduce re-offending and protect the public.” The DirectorGeneral of the Prison Service announced these Aims, Objectives, andPrinciples for the Prison Service in February 1999 (Performance StandardsProgramme 1999).Vivien Stern, then director of NACRO, stated that “...prisons are notthere for prison staff and prison management. They have a wider socialduty, it not to improve the people that are sent to them, at least to minimisethe damage that enforced removal from the community into what aprisoner called ‘a further education college of crime’ can do. It is in thecommunity’s interest that the prison system should be just open andaccountable” (1989: 224). The 1991 White Paper, Custody, Care and Justice,stated that the role of the Prison Service “must be consistent withinternational human rights obligations” and “ensure that prisoners arctreatedwith justice, humanity, dignity and respect” (paras. 1.2 and 1.3). Itclaims that the current Statement of Purpose incorporates these valuesalthough “is not, by itself, a full or sufficient statement of the PrisonService’s role in respect of unconvicted prisoners” (para. 7.5).