The school to PRU to prison pipeline

I talk a lot about the school to prison pipeline. I also do a lot in trying to influence the end of the school to prison pipeline and I hope this article will do exactly that, or at least change the way some people think.

So, what is the school to prison pipeline?

The school-to-prison pipeline is a term used to describe the disproportionate number of children who are pushed out of school and into the criminal justice system. This can happen for a variety of reasons, such as zero-tolerance discipline policies, racial disparities in school discipline, and the increasing presence of police in schools.

In England, there is evidence that the school to prison pipeline is a real problem. For example, a recent study by the University of Birmingham, found that black and ethnic minority boys in England are twice as likely as white boys to be excluded from school.

The study also found that these boys are more likely to be arrested and charged with criminal offences.

I’m a fan of quotes, and one of my favourite quotes is from American psychologist, Dr Ross Greene, who said “Kids with trauma history do not need more punishment. And, quite frankly, they do not need more stickers.”

There are a few factors that contribute to the school to prison pipeline, including:

Zero tolerance policies in schools that lead to children being excluded for minor infractions.

The criminalisation of poverty, which means that children from low-income families are more likely to be excluded from school and to encounter the justice system.

The lack of support for children with additional needs, who are more likely to be excluded from school and to receive harsher punishments.

The lack of funding for schools in deprived areas, which means that these schools are less likely to have the resources they need to support their children.

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The school-to-prison pipeline has several negative consequences for children, including:

Increased risk of dropping out of school.

Diminished academic achievement.

Increased risk of unemployment.

Increased risk of mental and physical health problems.

Increased risk of substance use.?

In 2013, the University of Edinburgh conducted research into the problem of overcrowding in Scottish prisons, where it was concluded...

“One of the keys to tackling Scotland’s high imprisonment rates is to tackle school exclusion. If we could find more imaginative ways of retaining the most challenging children in mainstream education and ensuring that school is a positive experience for all Scotland’s young people, this would be a major step forward.”

In 2017, the Institute of Public Policy estimated out of 85,975 people in prison, 54,164 had been excluded from school.

In 2019, the National Crime Agency found that 100% of children involved in County Lines had been excluded from school, and that school exclusion is a contributing factor to child criminal exploitation.

On July 20, 2023, the government released figures regarding permanent exclusions and suspensions in England for the academic year 2021/22.

6,495 children were permanently excluded from school.

Suspensions, which were up from 352,454 on the previous year, stood at 578,280.

Between 1979 and 1983, FBI profiler, Robert Ressler, who headed up the criminal personality research project, along with his colleagues, interviewed 36 convicted murderers in prisons across America.

In 1992, in his book ‘Whoever fights monsters’, wrote, “All the murderers – every single one – were subjected to serious abuse as a child.”

In 2004, research carried out for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, they sampled one hundred girls in five establishments, and 2,500 boys across fourteen establishments, and it was found:

Forty percent of girls, and 49% of the boys had a history of local authority care.

Forty percent of girls, and 25% of the boys had suffered violence at home.

Thirty-three percent of girls, and 5% of the boys had suffered sexual abuse at home.

Eighty-five percent of girls and boys showed signs of a personality disorder.

Sixty-six percent of girls, and 40% of the boys reported anxiety/depression.

In research carried out by the Ministry of Justice, in 2012, they interviewed 1,435 people in prison (1,303 males and 132 females) and found that 254 had experienced emotional abuse, 251 physical abuse, 128 sexual abuse and 579 had observed some form of violence.

Radford University, in Virginia, have recently compared the childhood abuse history of fifty serial killers in the USA against the rates of childhood abuse reported by the general population. The findings indicated considerably higher rates of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse in the serial killer cohort.

Trauma and challenging behaviour are linked. Young people who exhibit challenging behaviour are more likely than the average to have been traumatised.

In addition, there is evidence that challenging behaviour may be a sign of trauma in some instances.

The lack of emotional control, poor organisational and planning abilities, issues with working memory, difficulty starting new tasks and transitioning between activities are only a few of the traits connected to trauma that can become problematic in school.

Behaviour which, unfortunately, leads onto school exclusion.

I don’t have all the answers, but here are a few things that can be done to break the school-to-prison pipeline, things like:

·???????Reforming zero-tolerance policies to ensure that they are used in a fair and equitable way.

·???????Reducing the number of police in schools and increasing the use of restorative justice practices.

·???????Providing more support for children with additional needs.

·???????Investing in early childhood education and other programs that help children succeed in school.

Breaking the school-to-prison pipeline is a complex challenge, but it is one that can be addressed, and by working together we can break the cycle of incarceration, and create a more just and equitable society for all children.

If we do not intervene early, and disrupt the school to prison pipeline, our prison system will continue to be overcrowded, and disproportionally full of people who have a history of childhood trauma.

Together, let us end the school to prison pipeline and support our children to become successful, because that is what every child deserves.

They start them young, in primary school, when they're still learning how to rule. They teach them they're not enough, that they're not worthy of enough.

They tell them that they're bad kids, that they're going to end up in prison. That they're not going to amount to anything, that they're just a waste of space.

And so, they start to believe it. They start to act like it. They start to do things that get them in trouble, because they think that's all they're good for.

And before they know it, they're in the system. They're being cycled in and out of prison. They're becoming a statistic; they're becoming a product of the school to prison pipeline.

We need to break this cycle; we need to give these kids a chance. We need to show them that they are worth something. That they can achieve anything they set their minds to.

We need to invest in education. We need to provide more opportunities. We need to change the way we think about these kids. We need to stop criminalising them.

The school to prison pipeline is a disgrace. It's a waste of human potential. It's a stain on our society. It's something we need to end.