Prison overcrowding and costly recidivism

Instead of the burden of proof being on the prisoners to establish that they can safely be released, it should be for the authorities to justify continued detention. Otherwise the Parole Board is likely to maintain a risk-averse approach to release and these prisoners will serve ever-more unjust periods of detention.

The early release of the IPPs (more than half of whom self-harm) would reduce both prison overcrowding and understandable prisoner resentment.

Lord Brown of Eaton-Under-Heywood
Retired law lord and justice of the Supreme Court, House of Lords

Sir, Your leader (Dec 19) states that helping ex-offenders to find work is the only way of cutting costly recidivism, but omits to mention that prisoners who maintain family relationships and receive visits are 38 per cent less likely to reoffend than those who do not. Moreover, without family support and other good relationships, many ex-offenders struggle to find the motivation to pursue and sustain employment.

You rightly link the failure to prevent reoffending with disturbances such as the riot in HMP Birmingham. Lord Woolf’s 1991 report on the riots that began in Strangeways prison was critical of the Prison Service’s perceived disdain for imprisoned men’s family ties, seeing it as one root cause of the riots. Ministers who ignore the importance of good relationships are doomed to repeat past failures. The secretary of state’s reforms promote effective support for prisoners’ family and wider social ties in rehabilitation. This should be consistently available across the prison estate.

Lord Farmer

Chairman of the Farmer Review on prisoners’ family ties commissioned by the Ministry of Justice and National Offender Management Service

Sir, I was a member of the first National Offender Management Service board when the organisation was formed in 2004. At the time the vision was that every offender should have a named person managing their journey through the justice system, hopefully to emerge with the potential to flourish as a productive and respected citizen. These offender managers were to be the cornerstone of a joined-up approach, uniting all the agencies in a single purpose.

Somehow the inherent complexity of the justice system, reinforced at times by vested interests, defeated the simplicity of this idea. Today most offenders experience a confused cycle of interventions frequently delayed or cancelled in spite of the best efforts of the different people looking after them at each stage. When they emerge they are disorientated and unprepared for the busy world that has largely passed them by.

Could not the idea of a named person managing their case be revived, even if only for the many younger offenders whose lives are being ruined by the current regime?

Mike Manisty

Yateley, Hants

WORLD BANK FUNDS

Sir, Further to your report (“UK ‘dumps’ billions in bid to meet aid target”, Dec 19), working through the World Bank trust funds the UK government helped to immunise 76 million children, saving 1.4 million lives. Dfid’s support for the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund has helped to increase primary school attendance from 4.3 million in 2008 to more than 7.2 million by 2014.

Some 92 per cent of monies in World Bank trust funds to which the UK has contributed are already allocated to specific activities. These funds are released in stages for two reasons: to ensure the funds reach the intended recipients, and to ensure agreed results are being delivered. To ensure governments in developing countries adhere to agreed plans, they need to be assured that long-term funding is available. That is why the World Bank Group must have the funds in hand.

Sheila Redzepi

Vice-president for external and corporate affairs, World Bank

Sir, It is frustrating for those of us who run small charities sending funds to the developing world to learn that Dfid “dumps billions of pounds”. We employ no UK staff and remit £200,000 annually to a well-run Zambian non-governmental organisation which we helped to establish and which supports isolated communities. Our partner is training communities to become self-sustainable via improved agriculture, education and entrepreneurship. Our record over 15 years speaks for itself in the improved life chances of 50,000 people — the sort of success that Dfid is trying to achieve. We did apply to Dfid a few years ago: it outsourced our proposal to a consultant, which rejected our request yet was no doubt paid a fee. There are lots of UK charities like ours that can make a significant difference with taxpayers’ funds. This must be preferable to using the World Bank.

Patricia Napier

Chairman, Baynards Zambia Trust

FUTURE OF SYRIA

Sir, Those of us who have served as ambassadors to Syria or who have visited Syria recently remain deeply concerned by Britain’s continued support for the so-called moderate armed opposition and the British government’s commitment to impose regime change. Civilians in many parts of Syria fear that such intervention will create a political vacuum, providing a dangerous opportunity for Isis-related Islamist extremists.

We therefore urge the prime minister and foreign secretary to respect the right of the Syrian people as a whole to choose their own future. Failing to do so not only undermines the long-term stability of Syria but risks creating a chaotic situation similar to, or perhaps even worse than, those in Iraq and Libya.

Peter Ford, British ambassador to Syria 2003-06; Lord Green of Deddington, British ambassador to Syria 1991-94; Lord Wright of Richmond, British ambassador to Syria 1979-81; Baroness Cox, House of Lords

3D VIEW OF LONDON

Sir, Sadiq Khan has vowed to protect views of St Paul’s cathedral, while SAVE Britain’s Heritage has asked the secretary of state to hold a public inquiry into the proposals for the 14-storey Cube at Paddington (reports, Dec 19).

The mayor and the minister would find their decision-making much easier if the Greater London Authority invested in a virtual 3D computer model of the capital into which all developers would be required to place their projects.

This powerful tool, now in use by the Corporation of London after the outcry surrounding the Walkie-Talkie building, would allow planners, politicians and local communities to ascertain precise impacts of new development from multiple locations. It could also be used to calculate the impact on daylight levels, and of shadowing and wind turbulence.

We hope that Mr Khan will include it as part of the London Plan that he is preparing and which will define the city’s shape over the next 20-25 years.

Peter Murray

Chairman, New London Architecture

BBC AND NATIONAL SECURITY

Sir, The terms of the debate about cuts to the BBC Monitoring Service (report, Dec 20) miss the point. Since the 1980s, Monitoring has been first and foremost a crucial source for BBC journalism. That the same material was used by the Ministry of Defence and the Cabinet Office was neither surprising nor concealed. Those needs were secondary to those of BBC journalism. To put Monitoring into the context of “national security” rather than journalism risks undermining the position of BBC World Service as a medium of public information. To do so is to fall into the same trap as the recent strategic defence review, which valued the BBC World Service as part of the “soft power” projection of British foreign policy.

The BBC World Service spent decades freeing itself from the perceived shackles of the Foreign Office. It must not now allow itself to be seen as part of British strategic or security priorities.

Sir John Tusa

Managing director BBC World Service 1986-92, London N1

LOTTERY PENALTY

Sir, Let me reassure Sir Jeremy Elwes (letter, Dec 19): all of the £3 million penalty imposed on Camelot will go to good causes. The penalty takes account of about £2.5 million that would otherwise have gone to good causes had the prize in question not been paid.

Miranda Pugh

Camelot

FORCE OF NATURE

Sir, Richard Warnock (letter, Dec 17) claims that Statham/Trueman was England’s greatest fast bowling attack, but I witnessed a more devastating pair in Australia: Statham/Tyson. Sir Donald Bradman was heard to say that Frank Tyson was one of the fastest bowlers he had seen. “Typhoon Tyson”, as the press called him, emigrated to Australia in 1960.

Anthony Roden

London W5

CARE AT CHRISTMAS

Sir, Apropos Alan Pollard’s letter (Dec 20), Crisis at Christmas brings in thousands of homeless guests to receive warmth, companionship, and access to medical care. We are also working with the government to change the law to stop people becoming homeless in the first place.

Without our donors’ support this wouldn’t be possible — their generosity far outstrips our investment in fundraising. We have a duty to ask for money, and do so to fight for a future where we will no longer be needed.

Jon Sparkes

CEO, Crisis

SILENT BARBERS

Sir, The ancient joke about the witty man who, when asked by a talkative barber how he would like his hair cut, replied “In silence”, goes back farther than the Roman jokebook Philogelos (report, Dec 17). Plutarch credits it to King Archelaos of Macedon, who ruled in the late 5th century BC. It has proved extremely durable, being associated with both Enoch Powell (as your leader notes) and Lord Hailsham.

Stephanie West

Hertford College, Oxford

Sir, Your letter (Dec 20) regarding golf tips from barbers has given me a most timely reminder. Whereas I carefully eschew the golf course I always have my hair cut twice a year: at the winter and the summer solstice. I shall be attending my barber today.

Edward Way

Petworth, W Sussex

THE RUBBISH TIP

Sir, What is the protocol today for tipping the postman and dustmen at Christmas? The postman (or woman) is often not the same person, and the household rubbish is collected by three different vehicles.

Giles Keeble

London SW13