Author Peter Hitchens argues that the United Kingdom's penal system has lost its ability to deter or rehabilitate due to a fundamental shift in social values. he contends that without strong family structures and clear authority, prisons merely become dangerous environments controlled by inmates.
The surge from 27,000 to 87,000 inmates
The UK prison population has undergone a massive expansion that threatens to overwhelm the nation's infrastructure. According to the report, there were only 27,000 people in prisons across England and Wales in 1960, but that number climbed to 39,000 by 1970 and nearly 46,000 by 1990. By 2002, the count had surged past 70,000 for the first time.
Today, the population exceeds 87,000,approaching a maximum capacity of 89,800. This overcrowding, the source claims, makes it nearly impossible to maintain order, turning prison officers into something resembling "UN peacekeepers" rather than traditional warders who can maintain discipline.
The erosion of the "fierce constable" and family authority
Peter Hitchens argues that the failure of the penal system is a direct consequence of the "Permissive Society" that emerged in the 1960s. He suggests that the decline of strong families, the absence of fathers, and the loss of authority in schools have stripped society of the moral framework necessary for prisons to work. This social shift has fundamentally changed the nature of crime,replacing a clear sense of right and wrong with a more nebulous distinction between what is "appropriate" and "inappropriate."
Hitchens notes that while the 19th-century prison system worked because it was backed by a religious and moral revolution,modern criminals no longer fear the consequences. the disappearance of the "fierce constable" and the visible presence of authority figures means that many offenders can commit numerous crimes before they are ever investigated by the police.
Why Wormwood Scrubs and Strangeways have lost their deterrent power
Historically, Victorian prisons were designed to be visible, intimidating landmarks within cities to scare wrongdoers into good behavior. Hitchens points to the "forbidding tomb-like gates" of institutions like Wormwood Scrubs in London, Armley in Leeds, or Strangeways in Manchester as examples of this intended psychological impact.
However, the report suggests these institutions have transitioned from deterrents to "hellish, crammed halls." Instead of being places of reform, they have become environments where the weak must submit to the strong, and where inmates, rather than the lawful authorities, often hold the power inside the cells.
Can politicians solve a crisis rooted in the 1960s?
The current political debate regarding the early release of prisoners is described by Hitchens as "meaningless posturing." Because the system no longer serves to punish or deter, the question of who stays and who goes becomes secondary to the fact that the system itself is fundamentally broken. If a prisoner emerges just as dangerous as when they entered, the debate over their release date lacks substance.
This leaves several critical questions unanswered. if the root cause of crime is a cultural shift , can legislative action actually restore social order? Can the police regain the authority they lost decades ago? And can any politician truly address a crisis that Hitchens believes is rooted in the very fabric of the modern social contract?
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