PCC Matthew Ellis: Stop revolving door of criminals
Staffordshire’s Commissioner for Police, Fire and Rescue and Crime is calling for an end to the "revolving door" of low level criminals going in and out of prison because of addictions and other substance misuse.
Matthew Ellis, who led a review into prisons on behalf of the four commissioners across the Midlands, says addiction and substance misuse is leading to repeat criminality and has to be dealt with differently and more effectively.
The commissioner has invested nearly quarter of a million pounds this year boosting treatment options available for repeat offenders and now wants to ensure magistrates use their powers to make offenders get treatment across Staffordshire for mental health problems or drug and alcohol abuse, as part of their sentence.
The commissioner invited key members of the judiciary, wider criminal justice system, health service, and other partners to police headquarters on Monday to urge them to use these powers more widely.
He said: "When individuals regularly commit low level crime and it’s linked to drug addiction or substance misuse they end up in and out of prison or detention of some sort time after time, after time.
"Being locked away only pauses the chaos and the damage an individual’s behaviour has on law abiding people, but it rarely fixes the addiction which causes their behaviour.
"It’s a welcome respite for communities affected, but their criminality and the impact on people will continue after release. It’s a revolving door that only pauses offending whilst costing all of us vast amounts of money.
"The evidence shows that for most people, not all, when they get off their foul addiction they have, they can get their lives back on track more easily and stop being a constant drain on society.
"We are spending hundreds of millions, probably billions, not dealing with, but perpetuating the habits and addictions that cause society so much harm.
"This conference is about a serious change, because what is done now is not working."
The event – Addressing Addiction and Mental Health in Sentencing- examined the reasons behind a recent decline in the use of Community Sentence Treatment Requirements (CSTRs) and how their use can be increased.
Partners in Staffordshire have agreed to a new pilot project over the next two years, aimed at increasing the use of the orders.
