Short sentences - are they really worth it?
Being a 30-year-old woman, having left prison 1 year ago, I would never have imagined that I would be working for the very charity that helped me during my time and after prison. Imago Dei – ID Essence allowed me to explore my inner negative feelings and turn them into positives, along with the Flourish course, changing my perception on my life and where I wanted to be and allowing me to see a future and breaking the cycle that I had been in for years.
I have been in prison three times, the 1st for 2 months and the 2nd for 3 months. By the time I had settled in and got my head round what was happening, it was time to go home, full of confusion, embarrassment and anger. The 3rd and last prison sentence that I completed was a 10 month one. It wasn’t until the 6th month that I started to receive help from ID Essence, more so because I was unaware of the help that they could give and not knowing what help I needed to receive.
Due to having a much longer sentence, it helped me to go through all stages of emotions. Anger, confusion, sadness and finally acceptance. It gave me the push, it made me think of what I wanted to get from life. It also made me realise that it is never too late.
So why is it that shorter sentences are still being handed out? Approximately two-thirds of prisoners released after serving a sentence of less than 6 months reoffend within a year. It is argued that this is because short sentences provide little opportunity to rehabilitate an offender and instead focus on a brief punishment but without the appropriate help are we really shocked at the statistics?
Not only do shorter sentences disrupt family ties but it also disrupts housing, employment and treatment programmes. It doesn’t tackle the issues of what the offender may be experiencing or going through and instead can be so detrimental to their mental health and do not provide any meaningful rehabilitation. Is there not another way to help rather than punish someone already going through a stressful time?
