Closed petition Save HMP Blundeston

Closed on 7 October 2014

The announcement that HMP Blundeston is to close came as a complete surprise to many people, including the staff and prisoners at the prison. Blundeston has the only category C democratic therapeutic community (TC) and there are dozens of men who risk being sent back to mainstream prison in the middle of therapy. It takes significant courage for offenders to submit themselves to the therapeutic process. Prisoners who successfully complete TC are statistically much less likely to offend, while those who do not complete therapy are statistically more likely to offend than had they never started therapy at all. No consideration has been given to the plight of these men, who will start being removed from Blundeston very shortly. If the prison must close, there should be a much longer period which would enable prisoners to complete their therapy so they do not risk irreparable psychological harm and in doing so increase their risk of reoffending.