• It costs around £37,500 to lock up each prisoner for a year - more than the UK average wage.
• Most people discharged from prison are reconvicted
• Only a third of people agree that prison works, the more prisons the better.
• The prison population has grown by almost two thirds in 10 years.

Many people agree that our criminal justice system is not working as it should for victims, offenders or the wider community. The prison population is increasing but society does not feel increasingly protected from violence and crime. High proportions of prisoners re-offend and are not equipped for constructive employment in society. Yet prison, in spite of its costs, enjoys growing popularity as a policy response and receives often uninformed support from the public.

This is why the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation wants to generate a debate properly informed by facts and evidence about the best ways to deal with criminal offenders.

How to find out more...

• Look at our Rethinking Crime and Punishment pack. You can view this online, or download the entire document as a pdf.
• Sign-up for our email newsletter to make sure you're bang up to date with all the latest facts.

Other resources

If you want to get involved in criminal justice then visit the 'What Can I Do?' section of this site. This offers a comprehensive range of ways in which the general public can get involved in the criminal justice system.

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