The Weekend Intelligence: The prison that works

周末情报:运转良好的监狱

The Intelligence from The Economist

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2025-03-22

41 分钟
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Noel ‘Razor' Smith has done some terrible things. A key player of the criminal underworld in South London in the 1970s and 1980s. A ‘horrible bastard' by his own account. Today he is fifteen years out of prison with no intention of going back.   In a failing British prison system there is one place that works. That helps criminals like Mr Smith to reform and rehabilitate. In this episode of the Weekend Intelligence, public policy correspondent Tom Sasse finds out about His Majesty's Prison Grendon – ‘the secret hidden under the staircase'. Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—Subscribe to Economist Podcasts+ For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account. Music by Blue dot Sessions and Epidemic. This podcast transcript is generated by third-party AI. It has not been reviewed prior to publication. We make no representations or warranties in relation to the transcript, its accuracy or its completeness, and we disclaim all liability regarding its receipt, content and use. If you have any concerns about the transcript, please email us at podcasts@economist.com. Read more about how we are using AI.
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  • The Economist.

  • Britain's prisons are horrible places.

  • They're old, overcrowded and under-resourced.

  • And then there's what happens inside them.

  • They're extraordinarily violent, with thousands of assaults every year,

  • both on staff and other prisoners.

  • Drug use is routine.

  • Sadly, suicide is not uncommon.

  • Even when inmates get out, most go on to commit another offence.

  • This crisis has been decades in the making, presided over by parties of both stripes.

  • So it made sense that soon after Labour was elected to power last year,

  • it launched a review of the country's jails.

  • The problems the British government identified have echoes throughout the world.

  • No matter what some politicians say, prison doesn't work, or at least most of them don't.

  • But today we want to tell you about Britain's one success story.

  • Grendan Prison in Buckinghamshire has found a different way of doing things.

  • I'm Rosie Bloor and today on The Weeknd Intelligence,

  • my colleague Tom Sasse meets former inmates from Grendan Prison and staff who worked there to find out why it works and whether other jails could replicate it.

  • Once you actually give someone the chance to change and open up their eyes for them,

  • you know, they can't shut up again.