'Radical changes to prisons needed to cut reoffending'

The Right Rev Rachel Treweek called for a "big holistic look" at the prison system

A bishop is calling for radical changes to the criminal justice system to reduce reoffending.

The Church of England Bishop for Prisons, the Right Reverend Rachel Treweek, believes more community sentences should be used for the "80% of people jailed for non-violent crimes".

Bishop Treweek, who is also Bishop of Gloucester, is gathering teenagers' views on how the system should be reformed ahead of a meeting with MPs in December.

She said: "I'm never condoning crime but we need to look at the big picture and live somethings radically differently and that's where the voices of young people are going to be so crucial."

She is urging 13 to 18 year olds to share their views about the prison system in her online survey.

Shortly before Christmas, Bishop Treweek will then take a group of young people to Houses of Parliament to speak and present the survey findings to MPs and peers.

"We have the highest prison population in western Europe, we have to ask ourselves why," she said.

"Everything seems to be geared towards the fact our prisons are overcrowded, therefore, the logic goes: 'We need to build more prisons', 'we need to punish people harder'.

"Yet, when people come out of these very overcrowded prisons, the rate of reoffending is really high."

She added that if you can keep people, who are not a danger to the public, in the community, connected with family and friends, their place to live and their job, that is "going to transform our communities".

Being "obsessed with punishment" does not change things, and we need a "big holistic look" at the system, she added.

"If we want to change people and transform our communities we have to think far more creatively.

"If you lock someone up for five, 10, 15 years, but actually you don't have anyway of helping people transform their lives, when they come out, they won't be changed," she said.

Bishop Treweek said "creative ideas are coming from young people".

"I'm really hopeful that, as they get older and take up positions in society, they will be the ones shaping the future of our criminal justice system," she added.