“A disappointment”: this is how Bishop Terence Brain, in charge of prisons at the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales, defined Justice Minister Jack Straw’s announcement to build three large prisons in 2008 to solve problems related to overcrowding. Each new building will host 2500 detainees, bringing their overall number from 81,000 to 96,000. “I’m surprised that we find money to build new prisons but we can’t get funds to set up training and reeducation courses for those already in prison”, the bishop declared. He affirmed that many crimes are due to alcoholism and narcotics consumption. However, it’s very hard to enter a de-intoxication program for these forms of addiction. “You are sentenced to twelve months in prison and you have to wait such a long time to enter the program. It means that prisons host people who are not supposed to be there and whose purpose in life we have taken away from”, the bishop said. “If we can afford to erect new prisons we should also make sure that they serve their purpose. The detention system must provide detainees rehabilitation possibilities and give them the opportunity to start a new life once out of jail”. According to the Minister of Justice, since 1997 prisons receptive capacity have increased by 20 thousand units, of these, 3100 are in prisons built in the past two years.
