Increased public expenditure on locking people up can result in less expenditure on other public services such as hospitals, schools and care of the elderly. Prison staff are expected to carry out very demanding and stressful tasks on behalf of society. Yet in many countries they are badly trained, poorly paid and enjoy little public respect. Those who were involved in setting up the International Centre for Prison Studies realised that there was a need for a focus for new thinking about imprisonment and its use. There was also a clear need to make available models of best practice in prison management and the treatment of prisoners.
Prisons are extremely complex organisations.
And prison staff. All of these issues are at the core of the Centre's activities. The Director's introduction can be downloaded from this page.