If I were Prime Minister: No child would be caged in a failing prison
In the 100 days leading up to the General Election we’re inviting 100 contributors to tell us what they would do as Prime Minister. The only rule? No politicians
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Your support makes all the difference.I would lead a national conversation about building a society based on social justice and at the heart of this would be a criminal justice system that heals the damage done by crime.
No penal system can solve deep-seated social problems and I would legislate for policies that redistribute wealth and protect the poor and vulnerable. But, when a penal system is exploited as a weapon against the mentally ill or vulnerable instead of concentrating on creating a safer society, there is something seriously wrong.
Taking away a citizen’s freedom is the most dreadful and serious action of a government. Next to declaring war it is the most awesome responsibility of a prime minister.
My government would be based on evidence and for the first time in our justice system we would be using science and not emotion to make policy. I will find out what works best to help people lead law-abiding lives, using proper scientific trials.
I would put a plan of action to the public that took children out of the criminal justice system completely so that power is returned to parents and, if necessary, to welfare agencies. No child would ever again be caged in a failing prison.
I would ask the Lord Chancellor, who would of course be a highly respected lawyer, to find ways of reducing the use of prison for the thousands who do not require custody. Reversing the privatisation of probation I would make sure that the service was once again local and professional. Public safety comes at a price, and it is worth it.
There will always have to be prisons but they don’t have to be the places they have been for the last century, full of misery and violence and festering crime. I would make prisons places of dignity and change for the few who need to be there. At the heart would be the working day with prisoners paid a real wage and paying tax and benefiting from employment rights.
Once I had sorted out the justice system, I would cancel Trident. My father was a conscientious objector during the Second World War and a Jew, and I have always considered myself a pacifist. I would not declare war on anyone.
I was a non-executive director of an NHS primary care trust and so a passionate interest in health. I would end the commercialisation of health and to make sure that the NHS is properly funded I would abolish the threshold on National Insurance.
I was a secondary school teacher and have been a school and university governor, and as Prime Minister I would bring all schools back within the ambit of local government and abolish any financial incentives for private schools.
Social and economic justice, peace and equality.
Frances Crook is the Chief Executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform
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