Shabana Mahmood’s tenure as justice secretary is more problematic than your profile suggests (Shabana Mahmood: justice secretary and rising star of the Labour party, 16 August). First, she has endorsed yet another prison-building programme, a policy that has failed so dismally for the past 200 years. If the answer to the current crisis is more prisons, then she, like her predecessors, is asking the wrong question.
Second, she has said prisons should be regarded as being of “national importance”. Why should they be seen as more important than developing welfare-oriented, radical alternatives to custody, or abolishing the structural inequalities that are central to who is criminalised and imprisoned?
Third, the profile mentions that her plans include chemical castration for sex offenders. There are significant human rights issues concerning this policy. It is also a short-term expedient and does not address the widespread, systemic nature of violence against women and girls, including sexual violence. And she has approved using pepper spray to incapacitate children in young offender institutions.
Finally, she has “taken inspiration” from claims that Texas has reduced its prison population. The reasons for this are more complicated than the profile recognises. Furthermore, prisoners in solitary confinement are held in cages smaller than telephone booths and have no toilet or sink. There were over 14,000 deaths in state custody in Texas between 2005 and 2024, disproportionately involving Hispanic and Black people, with over 11,000 occurring in penal institutions.
Deborah Coles Executive director, Inquest, Joe Sim Emeritus professor, school of justice studies, Liverpool John Moores University, Steve Tombs Emeritus professor, The Open University
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