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  About CAPS


The Campaign Against Prison Slavery (CAPS) was formed in 2002 by ex-prisoners, prisoner support groups and activists to campaign against compulsory labour in UK prisons and for the abolition of the Incentives and Earned Privileges Scheme (IEP).

Compulsory labour is a feature of most prison systems around the world, whether it be forced hard labour as punishment, direct 'reparation' for the costs of imprisonment, prison jobs such as kitchen or cleaning work that keep administration costs down or workshop jobs where prisoners manufacture the cell doors and prison bars for the jails that house them.

However, the modern prison has also developed into a system for generating capital from a section of society that up until now has largely been held to have no intrinsic labour value, the marginalised elements that tend to be trapped on a roundabout of regular incarceration, never to hold down a 'proper' job or become a 'productive member of society'. Thus we now also have in the modern prison system the prisoners who are used to create capital for private sector companies, either through labour in prison workshops manufacturing and packing goods for these companies or those prisoners handed over wholesale to the global outsourcing and security companies that run the private prisons, to do with as they wish, often 'sub-contracting' them out to third party companies.


From Article 2 of the International Labour Organisation's Forced Labour Convention No. 29

1. For the purposes of this Convention the term "forced or compulsory labour" shall mean all work or service which is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily.

2. Nevertheless, for the purposes of this Convention the term "forced or compulsory labour" shall not include:
c ) Any work or service exacted from any person as a consequence of a conviction in a court of law, provided that the said work or service is carried out under the supervision and control of a public authority and that the said person is not hired to or placed at the disposal of private individuals, companies or associations.

This text mirrors almost word for word the texts in the European Convention on Human Rights and the UK Human Rights Act 1998 [both Article 4].
 Prison Texts


Here are some articles and other writing on the Prison Industrial Complex from prisoners, ex-prisoners and prison campaigners which hopefully illustrate some of the realities of life and work in the UK prison system.


JOHN BARKER - BENDING THE BARS

We have included extracts from John Barker's book Bending The Bars, a "selective memoir of being in maximum security prisons between 1971 and 1978 written in the form of stories towards the end of the sentence & finished soon after his release", as a way of illustrating aspects of prison work during the 70's.

JOE BLACK - ARE PRISONERS SLAVES?

This is an opinion piece commission from CAPS by the Association of Members of Independent Monitoring Boards for their May 2007 edition of the quarterly publication Independent Monitor. We hasten to add that the title is not Joe's.

JOE BLACK - THE EMPEROR'S OLD CLOTHES

What happened to cause the Tories to abandon the True Faith of 'Prison Works', the extent to which it really is a Damascene conversion and what changes to the justice and prisons systems in England and Wales we can expect to see as a result.

JOE BLACK - WANT TO BUY A PRISON SYSTEM? ONLY ONE PREVIOUS AND NOT SO CAREFUL USER

A commissioned opinion piece on 'Breaking the Cycle', the Coalition's Green Paper on "Effective Punishment, Rehabilitation and Sentencing of Offenders" that failed to make it past the [nameless] editor's red pencil.

JOE BLACK - MAKING PRISONS WORK: SKILLS FOR REHABILITATION - A RESPONSE

A response to the Ministry of Justice and the Department for Business Innovation and Skills joint publication of the finding of the 2010 review into 'offender' leaning.

JOE BLACK - SEPARATE AGENDAS, SEPARATE REPORTS

An analysis and response to the Howard League for Penal Reform and to Policy Exchange for their two reports, ’Business Behind Bars’ and ’Inside Job’ respectively, on their respective plans for the introduction of what they term ’real work’ in prisons in England and Wales.

BRA BROS - PRISON PRIVATISATION: ALIVE AND KICKING

A piece by a member of CAPS originally written for Last Hours in May 2009 in response to the Labour Party announcement of the scrapping of the Titan Prisons plans.

BRA BROS - GEORGIA PRISONERS, STANDING UP BY SITTING DOWN!

A piece written for Freedom in Jauary 2011 on the histroic strike by prisoners in Georgia State penitentiaries.

BRA BROS - W(H)ITHER THE REHABILITATION REVOLUTION?

A version of this article first appeared as the Prison news column in Freedom in December 2011.

BEN GUNN - THE GULAG CASHIPELIGO

Ben is a long-term prisoner currently resident at HMP Erlestoke. He is a regular contributor to Inside Time and sent us this article to help the campaign.

BEN GUNN - AFTER WOOLF: INJUSTICE STILL RULES

Ben is a long-term prisoner and a regular contributor to Inside Time, the prisoners' newspaper. He has also recently taken on the post of General Secretary of the Association of Prisoners. This article first appeared in the November 2008 issue and in it Ben asks whether Lord Woolf’s recommendations following the Strangeways Riots in 1990 have brought about any appreciable changes for prisoners.

CHARLES HANSON - EDUCATION AND TRAINING IN PRISON

Charles is a recently released ex-long-term prisoner. He was and still is a regular contributor to Inside Time, writing extensively on psychology and education in the prison system.

NICKI JAMESON - PRIVATISING PUNISHMENT

Nicki is a long-time prisons campaigner and co-author of Strangeways 1990 - A Serious Disturbance. This article is from the Prisoners Fightback October 2008 bulletin in FRFI.

ROBERT HILLARY KING & DR. TERRY KUPERS - SLAVERY IN U.S. PRISONS: AN INTERVIEW

Part 3 of an interview with Angola 3 member Robert King and forensic psychiatrist Dr. Terry Kupers, an expert on prisons and prisoner's mental health. This covers forced prison labour in the States with particular regards to Angola prison itself.

SIDNEY WILLIAMS - MPLU: MISSOURI PRISON LABOR UNION

A short intrroduction to the Missouri Prison Labor Union, the longest running US prison labor union, by one of its members.

 

 
  Prison Facts

The UK has the most privatised prison systems in Europe. In England and Wales 8,942 prisoners (10.8 % of the prisoner population) are held in private prisons.

There are now two privately financed, designed built and operated prisons in Scotland; Serco-run Kilmarnock and Kalyx-run Addiewell. Combined they hold some 1,340 prisoners, approximately 16.5% of Scotland’s prisoner population.

Spending on the private prisons sector was £259.4 million in 2007-2008.540 The expenditure on Ashfield prison was £21.02 million with an average of 383 prisoners costing £54,876 per prisoner

According to a parliamentary written answer, the costs of private prisons per place are higher than public sector prisons in most categories:

Cost per place (£000s)
Function

Private
Sector
Public
Sector
Male
CatB
26,813
25,881
Male
CatC
20,855
21,976
Female Closed
44,400
34,617
Male Juvenile
48,669
42,143
Male
Local
33,805
31,912

In 2006, basic pay for private sector custody officers was 39% less than their public sector equivalents. Taking a valuation of benefits such as pensions and holidays into account, the public sector advantage rose to 61%.

An average of 40% of private sector staff have over five years’ service. High staff turnover remains a problem in a number of private prisons. Lowdham Grange 30.2% & Peterborough 29.2% in 2006

In 2006 resignations of prison custody officers and detention custody officers in the private sector averaged 24%, with very large variations between establishments. According to the National Audit Office, staffing problems mean private prisons struggle to create a safe environment for prisoners. It noted high levels of assaults at Dovegate, Ashfield, Rye Hill, Forest Bank and Altcourse. It said that prisoners in these jails expressed concerns about their safety due to the relative inexperience of staff.

Ten out of the 11 prisons managed by the private sector were in the lowest poor performance quartile of the 132 prisons in England and Wales.

[Bromley Briefings June 09]