This is The Guardian.

The Guardian Archive Long Read.

My name is Isabel Thompson and I'm the author of If You Decide to Cut Staff, People Die, How Nottingham Prison Descended Into Chaos, which was published in 2022.

I was initially drawn to this story because we've all read headlines about the crisis in British prisons,

but I was curious as to why this was happening and then how this crisis was affecting the lives of those who live and work in prisons.

Since the article was published,

pressures on the prison system remain really acute.

So prisons were operating at a 99% capacity.

Rates of violence have surged.

There's a drive to build super prisons

and produce more prison places.

Equally, there are plans afoot to potentially scrap many custodial sentences under 12 months,

push community-based alternatives, possibly reward good behaviour with earlier release.

So this could signal a shift towards less people

entering prisons and also people staying inside prisons for shorter amounts of time. But I guess really

the issue at hand isn't just about prisons, but what happens outside them in the community. For example, what measures can be taken to reduce

re-offending. We need to take action on prisons, but also the services that surround them. And that's a

conversation that hopefully will be picked up now and in months and years to come.

I think there's a gap between people's views on punishment and then their faith in how we

actually choose to punish people. So by that, I mean, you know, being tough on crime is clearly

a really politically effective message but I don't

actually think many people believe that prisons as they currently operate are that effective so maybe

...