ABSTRACT
Two remarks inspired me to write this chapter. The first came from a prison psychiatrist who, during a conversation, posed the question, ‘Why can’t we care for people whilst in prison since we can’t do so in the outside world?’. The other remark was taken from an interview with a magistrate:
Each time we could possibly pass an alternative sentence, either deferred or with probation, we did so. But it is not always possible. These drug addicts who crawl out of the gutter in the early hours of the morning, thin, haggard, freezing cold in their little suits and shirts, what should be done with them? Leave them outside on a suspended sentence and probation which would probably not work? Or indeed send them to prison where they can get warm, eat and wait for better days.
