20th September 2007

From university to a university of crime – smarter justice for the Deerbolt Two

photos: Phillip Heathcote

As students prepare to start university next week, John Moores in Liverpool will be missing one student. Thomas Whittaker, 18, who had been accepted onto an art course has been jailed for 12 months – for the crime of spraying graffiti. Along with his friend Thomas Dolan, 20, who has been sentenced to 15 months, the pair are being held in Deerbolt Young Offender’s Institute – 150 miles from their homes in Macclesfield, Cheshire - since being sentenced three weeks ago. They had no previous convictions.

Public outrage is growing fast at these sentences. Almost 2,000 supporters have now joined the Facebook group protesting against the sentence – with 400 joining in the past two days alone.

Lucie Russell, SmartJustice Director said

“From university to university of crime - prison is often a means to learn new criminal skills from older inmates. Why aren’t these young men paying back for what they have done by cleaning up graffiti or other community based work, instead of sitting in a prison cell doing nothing – at the cost of over £50,000 per year?”

She continued:

“Graffiti-ing public property is wrong - but whats the point of a prison sentence? Around eight out of young people are reconvicted within two years of leaving prison, it’s an expensive way of making young people worse. Maybe they should meet up with members of the community who they are affecting and the people who have to clean up the graffiti and do compulsory work to pay back for what they have done”

Sir Charles Pollard QPM, former Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police and a pioneering force on Restorative Justice techniques said:

“At a time when the prisons are full to bursting point, I can’t understand the logic of sending these two young men to prison. Far more effectively, a restorative conference could have been organized where they could have been held directly and personally accountable to the Macclesfield local community for what they have done. This, along with community service, leading clean up campaigns in the locality, would be far more likely to change their behaviour and benefit local people”.

Judy Dolan, Thomas Dolan’s mother said:

‘My son has admitted that what he did was wrong, but sending him to prison is far too harsh for this crime. It's a shocking waste to lock up a 20 year old, when he could be punished in the community. For example, he has been working with young offenders and in schools across Greater Manchester, in high crime areas such as Moss Side, using art to encourage youngsters away from a life of crime.”

Denise Whitaker, Thomas Whitaker’s mother said:

“It takes me three and a half hours to get to Deerbolt to see my son. These two boys have never been violent. This was by no means a violent crime and they are not a danger to society. So why have they been locked up?”

The pair, who admitted the offences immediately, have also been given five year ASBOs.

Both young men are active members of their community. For the past few years, Thomas Dolan, a full-time artist, has been working with youths in deprived areas on projects including gun crime and alcohol awareness. Thomas Whittaker is involved with creating memorial murals for people in the community who had passed away.

ends

www.smartjustice.org/youngpeople

for more information and interviews please call:

Sinead Hanks 020 7689 7734 or 07931 380952

Lucie Russell 020 7689 7734 or 07931 507873

Notes to Editors

1. SmartJustice is a five year campaign which promotes community based solutions to crime. It is based at the Prison Reform Trust and supported by the Network for Social Change, the group behind the Jubilee 2000 Drop the Debt Campaign, and the Big Lottery Fund

2. SmartJustice for Young People is calling for more constructive activities for young people, more support to improve parenting, more mental health and drug treatment in the community and more punishments in which young offenders do compulsory work to pay back the community for their crimes.

3. SmartJustice recently ran a poll of 972 victims of crime carried out in conjunction with Victim Support. The most striking findings of the survey, conducted by ICM, was that two thirds of victims believed prison didn’t work in reducing re-offending and that over three quarters of victims think that more constructive activities for young people in the community, better supervision by parents and more drug, alcohol and mental health treatment programmes would be far more effective.

4. Facts about young people and crime:

· In March 2007 there were 2851 under 18s in prison

· In Feb 2007 there were 9,286 18-20 year olds in prison, a rise of 7% on the year before.

· 78% of 18 to 20 year olds and 82% of under 18’s are reconvicted within two years of leaving prison.

· The number of 15 to 17 year olds in prison has doubled in the last 10 years and the number of sentenced young women imprisoned has almost trebled.

· Young people are much more likely to end up with a prison sentence than they were 10 years ago

· Almost half the children in prison have been convicted of non-violent offences - more children are in prison for robbery than any other offence

· Over half of under 18s have been in care and three in four of those held in young offenders' institutions have not attended school beyond the age of 13.

· Over half of 16-20 year olds who are locked up say they were dependent on drugs or alcohol in the year prior to imprisonment.

· One in three girls locked up has been subjected to sexual abuse, and one in four has experienced violence at home.