Wormwood Scrubs and the vital need for prison reform

“Don’t bother about trying to move me to another prison. I’ve decided to go back on heroin instead. Any time you want some, let me know,” said an inmate at the UK’s notorious Wormwood Scrubs prison to Angela Levin. Levin is an award-winning journalist and former prison watchdog and in an article for The Big Issue UK she describes the alarming policies that have seen some overcrowded jails in Britain working at double capacity, with staff stretched so thin that drug-taking is rampant. Prisoners can spend up to 23 hours a day in their cells with rehabilitation almost non-existent. Indeed, some 50 per cent of criminals with a short sentence end up homeless and reoffend within a year. (1117 Words) - By Angela Levin