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Essay Competition 2010

This year, the Howard League launched its first-ever essay competition for undergraduate students, which was judged by Eric Allison, prisons correspondent for the Guardian newspaper.

Students were asked to submit an essay addressing the subject 'Why Prisons Don't Work'. We were overwhelmed with the number of entrants and the high quality of the arguments submitted.

Eric told us "I found it inspiring that so many young people clearly get the message that the prison system is failing us all. The essays ought to be forced reading for those, in successive governments, who have continued to ignore those failings. I can only hope that some of the authors will one day be in a position to influence policy and bring about some much needed change. I congratulate them all."

The winning essay will be published in the next issue of The Howard, which will be read by over 30,000 people. Eric has decided to also award a second place and a honourable mention for an essay he considered to be worthy of highlighting.

First place goes to Adam Robertson, a history student from Durham University. Read Adam's essay in full here.

He gets the nod because of the boldness of his thesis. He attacks the very tenet of imprisonment - as a way of dealing with those who transgress - and he is right to do so (Imagine that prisons did not exist and, during a debate on how to deal with offenders, somebody suggested the notion of locking them all up together. That will cure 'em!).

Adam's essay, starting with his views on denying prisoners the right to vote, in contravention of European law, shows he is up to date on matters penal and points towards his general theme - of the absurdity of trying to re-intergrate people into society by excluding them from it. He demolishes the 'deterrence' theory, along with the outmoded need to 'punish' and argues, rightly in my view, of the need for offenders to reconcile themselves with the consequences of their crimes. The iniquities of the penal system often results in prisoners seeing themselves as victims-rather than focusing on the real victims.

I doubt that Adam is suggesting we immediately open up our jails and let all the prisoners out; but, his 'you would not start from here' approach, is based on common sense and sheer reason. Again, I commend his words to those in power:"A system which removes people from their local community, denies them the rights enjoyed by the rest of society and introduces them into a violent and brutal situation can only serve to isolate-them-from society. Any such system can only be considered the antithesis to the modern conception of society, to liberal thought and to plain common sense." In all, a brave and reasoned argument. I note Adam is reading history. I hope he goes into politics.

Second place goes to Alexander Robinson, who is studying Law at UWE. Read Alexander's essay in full here.

This is a wide-ranging essay, that touches on some important factors. Alexander rightly points to the malign influence the media -especially the tabloid press - exerts on the public. The 'holiday camp' label is trotted out with depressing regularity, (as a 'difficult' prisoner, I was often shunted around the system and have been in too many jails to mention. Some of those prisons were relatively civilised, some less so, but I have never been in a jail that I would consider civilised enough to want to spend a holiday within its walls).

I also liked the way the author highlighted the reluctance of sentencers to impose community orders, rather than a custodial sentence. Alexander correctly points out that such orders are "tailored for the offence and the offender" - unlike the 'one size fits all' prescription that is a prison sentence. Alexander's thought ought to pinned up on the walls wherever the judiciary are at work. Well done.

The special mention goes to Elizabeth Ware, from Bristol University and is the President of the Howard League student group there. Read her full essay here.

Along with all the authors, Elizabeth has produced a well thought out and cogent argument. What made her work out stand out for me was her point about the appalling re-offending rates; she says "It is important to to note that these figures only account for those offenders - who are caught". It is an obvious point, but one so often missed by many prison pundits, who seem to forget that most criminals work very hard to avoid getting caught, (looking back at my own career as a criminal there was always a gap of at least two years between prison sentences, so, on paper, I was a success. In reality - and apart from a period of re-adjustment, from prison to freedom, I immediately returned to the only way of life I knew.) So well done Elizabeth.

Thanks to everyone who entered the competition, and particular thanks to our judge.

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Essay Competition 2010

Howard League students