Are Prison Reward Systems Beneficial?

Back in April, justice secretary Chris Grayling announced changes to the reward system in British prisons. The levels of rewards - basic, standard, and enhanced - will become standardized in prisons across the UK, and a new entry-level band will be introduced, restricting spending and requiring new prisoners to wear uniform for the initial fortnight of their incarceration. Moreover, rewards will no longer be provided merely for lack of bad behaviour: prisoners will have to actively work to gain their privileges.

Grayling expressed dissatisfaction with the expectation of prison privileges for good behaviour, saying, "it is not right that some prisoners appear to be spending hours languishing in their cells and watching daytime television while the rest of the country goes out to work."

However, President of the Prison Governors Association Eoin McLennan Murray has noted that prisoners' access to privileges such as television and gaming may be due to problems with prison overcrowding and a lack of available staff, stating that "the fact that they’re left locked up in their cells watching daytime TV is our failing, not theirs.”

Of course, this discourse occurs alongside a controversial question: should prisoners be allowed privileges and rewards in prison at all?

Public discourse on the issue can easily become sensationalist: people voice worries about the cost of equipping prisons with cable television subscriptions or brand new state-of-the-art PlayStation 4 consoles for the enjoyment of inmates, while conditions in retirement homes have recently been revealed to be less than satisfactory.

However, some of the 'rewards' in the scheme can actually save the prison service money. For example, allowing prisoners to wear their own clothing dramatically reduces the cost of uniforms, and since prisoners are more likely to take care of their own clothes, avoids the cost of replacing mistreated or lost uniforms.
The introduction of treats and reward systems may directly conflict with the idea of prison as punishment, but can they contribute to prison's other purpose - rehabilitation? For hundreds of years now we have lived in a society which believes that prisoners should not only be punished for what they have done, but rehabilitated.

The reward system, alongside work and educational opportunities, provides a catalyst for turning a potentially punitive, resentment-filled prison sentence into an opportunity for growth, reducing the likelihood of re-offending when inmates complete their sentences. Society benefits much more from educated and functional individuals than it does from institutionalized criminals. Unfortunately, problems arise when prisons are too short-staffed for prisoners to safely take part in more publicly acceptable activities like gardening, academic classes and community work. Frances Cook, of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said that "there have been numerous inspectorate reports published recently which have found prisons struggling to offer any purposeful activity within their walls. As their budgets continue to be squeezed, this problem will only get worse."

In an instance like this, television and gaming privileges become an easy way for guards to keep prisoners occupied in lieu of other activities. It seems then that the problem is not the reward system itself, but the ability of short-staffed prisons to maintain the right kind of incentives to help prisoners want to learn, work, and develop their skills to be as well-equipped as possible for a peaceful re-entry into the free world.