JS Headmaster's Blog
Crime and punishment
The Reverend Philip Chadder, the Senior Chaplain at Brixton Prison, gave the sermon at our spring term service at St John's Church, Spencer Hill, on Friday. He provided us with an insight into prison life, explained that a significant part of his role is to encourage prisoners to open their hearts to God and stressed the importance of education in enabling those convicted of crimes to establish a purposeful role in life. At the end of the service the collection was for the Prisoners' Education Trust which works to provide male and female prisoners with educational opportunities. On Monday I shall be speaking in assembly about the Ten Commandments. We live in a Judaeo-Christian society which is based on these laws and many of those in prison are there because they have broken some of these very laws. Young people are intensely interested in issues of crime and punishment because they are becoming increasingly aware of themselves as individuals and of their place in society. I want them to take an interest in the penal system. I think it should be a cause of concern that we lock up more people than most other European countries and that 82 of the 132 prisons in England and Wales were overcrowded at the end of last November. There are, I know, people who take a different view but a civilised community should think carefully about who it punishes, why and how it punishes them and about the issue of redemption. I want our boys to be a part of such a community and I am grateful to Philip Chadder for encouraging us to think about prison life.
5 February 2012.
