1. What is prison life like?
FACT OR FICTION?
1. It costs on average £38000 a year to keep someone in
prison
3. A third of prisoners have nowhere to live on release
5. 75% of criminals sent to prison for the first time commit
another offence when they are released
7. Prisoners may be allowed to have a computer and games
in their cell
9. There are approximately 97,000 people in UK prisons
11. Unconvicted prisoners can wear their own clothes
13. There are only about 5000 women in prison in the UK

2. What is prison life like?
FACT OR FICTION?
1. It costs on average £38000 a year to keep someone in
prison
3. A third of prisoners have nowhere to live on release
5. first S! commit
75% of criminals sent to prison for the CT time
FA
another offence when they are released
A LL
E to have a computer and games
7. AR
Prisoners may be allowed
in their cell EY
TH
9. There are approximately 97,000 people in UK prisons
11. Unconvicted prisoners can wear their own clothes
13. There are only about 5000 women in prison in the UK

3. What is prison life like?
Fairness and Justice: Human and
legal rights of those arrested and
in prison

4. Learning Objectives
• To understand the daily routine of life in
prison
• To explore the rights of prisoners: visits,
work and pay, education, personal
possessions etc
• To be able to explain the challenges faced
by the prison system

5. b) Explain three
reasons why people
may say prison is
too lenient
(6 marks)
c) Present a case in
favour of making
prisons harsher
(12 marks)

6. When is prison necessary?
For the most serious offences the court may impose a
prison, or 'custodial', sentence.
• The length of sentence imposed by the
court will be limited by the maximum
penalty for that crime.
• A custodial sentence can only be
imposed if:
• the offence is so serious that only a
custodial sentence can be justified;
• the offence is a violent or sexual one
and the court believes that only a
prison sentence would adequately
protect the public; or
• the offender refuses to comply with the
requirements of a community order.

7. Deciding which prison
someone is kept in
The type of prison offenders are sent to
depends on their crime and sentence. The
risk of harm to the public and how likely they
are to try and escape is also considered
important
Prisoners have
• Open and Closed Prisons the right to
complain if they
• Training Prisons think their
security category
is wrong
• High Security Prisons
Prison staff can change a prisoners security
category if they think the prisons has become
safer or more dangerous.

8. Prisoner Rights
A prisoner has fewer rights that someone
who has not broken the law, but all
prisoners have basic legal rights on
how they are treated that can’t be taken
away
1. The right to food and water
2. Protection from bullying, violence and racial
harassment
3. Being able to get in contact with a solicitor
ADD TO BOX A

9. Privilege Levels
Indicates what can a prisoners do, how many
visits can they have each week, what personal
property can that have etc
All prisoners start on standard privileges
The levels were introduced in
Based on 1995 with the aim...“to
behaviour in
prison. The
higher the more
»BASIC encourage responsible
behaviour by prisoners; to
encourage hard work and
privileges they
receive e.g. »STANDARD other constructive activity by
prisoners; to encourage
Increased sentenced prisoners to
number of
length of visits. »ENHANCED progress through the prison
system; and to create a more
disciplined better controlled
and safer environment for
ADD TO BOX B prisoners and staff.”

10. A day in the life of a prisoner…
Education Work: During the day Pay: The rate that
classes are inmates are allocated Convicted
prisoners get paid is not prisoner must
provided duties including sewing T- subject to the minimum
including shirts, cleaning prison wage. The average is wear the
courses in IT, wings, working in the £9.60 week (30p and hour) clothes the
Languages, kitchen
Gardening, prison gives
Reading, Typical Prison Routine: them including
Writing, Maths. underwear
Prisoners can •7.30 and socks
obtain Breakfast
qualification •8.30 Work or education Unconvicted
such as GCSEs •11.30 Lunch and lock up in cell prisoners may
•1.30 Return to work/education wear their own
Association= •4.30 clothes unless
‘leisure’ time out Finish work and return to cell area
of cells. This is •5.30 Dinner and lock up they are a
the time that •6.30 Association/education/group work category A
prisoners can •8.30 Lock up for the night prisoner, on
make phone calls the way to
Some prisons do not have If you are on court or likely
enough education or remand you are to escape
work places for everyone allowed three
so some prisoners are All prisoners should be weekly visits from
locked up for most of the able to spend between friends and family. If
day only being allowed you are convicted
30 minutes to an hour you are allowed
out to use the telephone, outside in the open air
visits or collect meals fewer
each day

11. Life inside: Watch and listen
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7444313.
stm
1. Where does he work?
2. How much does he get paid?
3. What does he spend it on?
4. What does he have in his cell?
ADD TO BOX C

12. What happens if a prisoner
breaks the rules
A prisoner who breaks prison rules - for example by
assaulting someone or having a banned item in
their cell - is normally punished. The punishment
will depend on the offence.
• Kept in their cell for up to 21 days (adults) or ten days (young offenders)
• Given up to 42 extra days in prison on top of their original sentence
• The prison can also take away the prisoner’s privileges by: stopping extra
visits from family and friends, removing a TV from their cell, deducting pay
the prisoner earns working in the prison

13. What do you think?
• Should prisoners have access to TV’s,
games consoles etc?
• Should prisoners receive minimum wage
for the work that they do?
• How does educating prisoners fit with the
purpose of prisons in the UK?
• What are the benefits of keeping prisoners
occupied throughout the day?
• Do we have a responsibility to provide
opportunities for prisoners?

14. The Ministry of
Justice predicts by
2015 there will be
93,900 people in
prison in England
and Wales
How effective are
our prisons?

15. b) Explain three
reasons why people
may say prison is
too lenient
(6 marks)
c) Present a case in
favour of making
prisons harsher
(12 marks)