Matt Ford interview in Sputnik News
The Centre's Research Analyst, Matt Ford answers questions on UK's "skyrocketing" prison population and government prison building programme.
The interview, appearing in Sputnik News last week by Mohamed Elmaazi covers the general state of prison conditions, the politics of the prison building programme and realistic alternatives to imprisonment.
On the subject of alternatives to imprisonment, Matt said:
High levels of violence are not an inevitable feature of society. Rates of violence differ between countries depending on the particular ways those societies are organised. In other words, the social context influences levels of violence, rather than it simply being the actions of individuals. Measures which aim to address economic and gender inequality, for example, would have a significant impact on levels of violence. There is also strong evidence that more localised, non-enforcement led public health approaches which aim to address key relationship- and individual-level risk factors for violence are effective.
Read the full interview.