The Court Experience: Prisoners' Views
| Author | Frank Holden |
| Published date | 01 June 1978 |
| DOI | 10.1177/026455057802500204 |
| Date | 01 June 1978 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
45
.
of
whether
they
are
first
offenders,
factors
linked
with
chance
.
,
of
reconviction,
etc.;
’
-assess
whether
this
kind
of
exercise
influences
the
team’s
recom-
;
mendations
for
probation.
,
In
my
view,
not
only
would
such
an
exercise
bring
more
rigour
into
the
process
whereby
opinions
as
to
disposal
are
expressed
by
probation
officers
but
also
may have
some
effect
on
the
use
of
the
probation
order.
(Mr
Robinson is
an
assistant
chief
probation
officer..
Avon.)
The
Court
Experience:
Prisoners’
Views
FRANK
HOLDEN
SHORTLY
after
beginning
my
secondment
in
the
welfare
department
of
HM
prison,
Kirkham,
I
became
aware
that
many
of
the
inmates
appeared
to
be
disastifi6d
with the
treatment
they
received
on
the
way to,
and
at
court.
This
is
perhaps
not
surprising
since. few,
if
any,
would
choose
to
serve
a
term
of
imprisonment
and
it
is
natural
enough
to
try
to
hit
back
at
those
who
you
feel
have
hurt
you.
’
Many
complained
that
they
were
not
satisfied
with
their
probation
officers
or
with
the
social
inquiry
reports
and
also
about
the
way
in
which
they
were
neglected
by
the
probation
officer
in
court.
Barristers,
too;
were
strongly
criticised,
and
the
&dquo;sausage
machine&dquo;
nature
of court,
procedures.
’ ....
’
.
When
such
allegations
were
made
I
discussed
them
with
the
inmate
and
as
a
matter
of
course
discussed
with
new
inmates
the
events
leading
up
to
the
court
appearance
and
the
appearance
itself.
In
some
instances
I’
found
that. men
did
appear -to
have
cause
to
complain
although
this
did
not-appear
to
be
universally
.true;
in
fact
some
remarked
on
how
well
they
had
been
treated,
whilst
the
attitude
of
others
appeared
to
change
after
discussion.
Some
men
seemed
to
have
clear
recollections
of
the
events
whereas
others
seemed
to
have
been
in
a
trance
from
start
to
finish
and,
dependent
on
the
length
of
time after
being
sentenced
until
transfer
to prison,
some
appeared
still
to
be
dazed
or
in
a
&dquo;post-sentence
mourning
period&dquo;.
It
occurred
to
me
that
there
might
be
value
in
undertaking
a
short
survey
to
try
to
establish
a
general
picture
of
the
offenders’
treatment
in
the
court
situation.
Tn
prison
this
is
rather
difficulty
because
such
an
undertaking.
would
be
essentially
one-sided
with
little
opportunity
for
cross-reference
with
other
agencies.
I
therefore
decided
that
I
would
select
a
few
questions
from
the
points
most .often
raised
along
with
others
from
which
accurate
information
may. be
leaned.
This
caused
me
to consider
the
implications
of
asking
convicted
men,
some
of
whom
might
be
appealing
against
convictions
or
sentence,
for
their
views
and
impressions.
Some
of
the
questions
involve
times,
especially
during
interviews
or
when
actually
in
court,
when
one
tends
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