No one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens but its lowest ones.

Prisons are an interesting place, people are usually polarised in their viewpoints like everything else in society. Although, human nature drives the way we treat our prison populations. The public believe prisoners deserve punishment, harsh sentences, rehabilitation and removal from society to ensure they understand the consequences of their actions.

The UK has the highest prison population Western Europe, it’s a revolving door, with over 50% of prisoners reoffending within 2 years of release. Something is clearly not working here. The purpose of prisons is to teach individuals how to stay away from crime, to build functional lives that contribute to society. Instead, prisons are the universities of crime, a naive first time offender will go to prison to understand and learn the complexities of different offending behaviours while experiencing the lengths people will go not to get caught.