Report of the Inquiry into Former Armed Service Personnel in Prison

Abstract: The inquiry of the Howard League for Penal Reform into former Armed Service personnel in prison was launched on Armistice Day 2009. The inquiry was established with the remit of discovering why so many ex-servicemen become involved with the criminal justice system and in particular, the problems which they face on leaving the Armed Forces, the sorts of offences which they have committed, the reasons which underscore their offending, how the needs of this group can best be met both in the community and in prison, and what can be done to reduce the number who commit offences resulting in custody. The exact number of former Service personnel in prison in England and Wales is at present unknown. There have been a number of attempts to produce a reliable figure, but none of these studies are wholly accurate and all are based on varying degrees of conjecture or statistical extrapolation. At the present time the most accurate figure would seem to be the product of a joint quantitative study carried out by the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Justice. This asserts that approximately 2,820, or some 3.5 per cent of all those currently in custody in England and Wales, had served in the Forces. The study estimated that 77 per cent of ex-servicemen in prison served in the Army, 15 per cent in the Royal Navy and 8 per cent in the Royal Air Force. Furthermore, it estimated that 51 per cent of ex-servicemen in prison are over the age of 45 years and 29 per cent are over the age of 55, which compares to 9 per cent of the general prison population being aged 50 years or over. These statistics suggest that many ex-servicemen in prison have offended a considerable time after their date of discharge. Whatever the exact figures for ex-servicemen in prison, it is important to stress that all estimates indicate that ex-servicemen constitute a significant subset of the adult male prison population and by occupation, potentially the largest.