The Ministry of Justice's objective for prisons seeks "Effective execution of the sentences of the courts so as to reduce re-offending and protect the public".

[3] The British Overseas Territory of Bermuda's HM Prison Service (renamed the Department of Corrections in 2002) is a separate organisation.

There are various ways a prisoner can be purposefully rehabilitated; including education, training, work and undertaking targeted accredited programmes.

[6] Drug finds in prisons again rose; in the 12 months to March 2019, they numbered 18,435 an increase of 41% over the previous alike period.

[6] During the eighteenth century, a wide variety of measures were used to punish crime, including fines, the pillory, and whipping.

It introduced solitary confinement, religious instruction, a labour regime, and proposed two state penitentiaries: one for men and one for women.

These were never built due to disagreements in the committee and pressures from wars with France, so jails remained a local responsibility.

[10] Quakers such as Elizabeth Fry continued to publicise the dire state of prisons as did Charles Dickens about the Marshalsea in his novels David Copperfield and Little Dorrit.

However, by the 1860s public opinion was calling for harsher measures in reaction to an increase in crime which was perceived to come from the 'flood of criminals' released under the penal servitude system.

The British penal system underwent a transition from harsh punishment to reform, education, and training for post-prison livelihoods.

The Prison Act 1898 enabled the Home Secretary to enact multiple reforms on his own initiative, without going through the politicised process of Parliament.

The Criminal Justice Administration Act 1914 required courts to allow a reasonable time before imprisonment was ordered for people who did not pay their fines.

He took the view that central government should break the cycle of offending and imprisonment by establishing a new type of reformatory, that was called Borstal after the village in Kent which housed the first one in 1902.

[23] The movement reached its peak after the first world war when Alexander Paterson became commissioner, delegating authority and encouraging personal responsibility in the fashion of the English public school: cellblocks were designated as 'houses' by name and had a housemaster.

[citation needed] Borstal populations remained at a low level until after the Second World War when Paterson died and the movement was unable to update itself.

[25] In general, the prison system in the twentieth century remained in Victorian buildings which steadily became more and more overcrowded with inevitable results.

[24][page needed] In 1979, the government of Margaret Thatcher began implementing the "short, sharp shock" programme.

[35] Recent issues affecting the prison system include overcrowding, lower levels of staffing and the increased availability of synthetic cannabinoids[36] and drones for smuggling.

A 2015 announcement from the government agreed that old prisons are more expensive to run and often unsuitable in design, such as having "dark corners which too often facilitate violence and drug-taking.

However, as a reorganisation in the 1980s, termed "A Fresh Start", saw these chief officer ranks abolished, and their role taken by junior grade prison governors.

From 2000 onwards, as part of a process to increase accountability within the prison service, all operational officers have been assigned a three-digit unique identification number, worn on all items of uniform (typically as an embroidered epaulette) along with the two-digit LIDS identification code of the specific prison or institution.

Murder of a prison officer who was acting in the execution of their duty at the time can result in a whole life order being imposed.

[54] In addition to uniformed officers carrying out security and custodial roles, a number of specialist functions exist within every prison.

This was reversed in the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, but prison officers were still denied the right to take industrial action.

In January 2008, the Home Secretary announced that the government was to introduce legislation to remove the right for prison officers in England and Wales to take strike action.

[60][b] In November 2016, the High Court approved a government request to stop industrial action taking place.

[61] In July 2017 the government won a High Court bid to obtain a permanent ban on industrial action by prison officers.

Members of the IMB, who are volunteers, are appointed by the Home Secretary and act as 'watchdogs' for both the Minister of Prisons and the general public, to ensure that proper standards of care and decency are maintained.

[63] An analysis of the reporting of IMBs found that while there may be some problems with their training and undertaking of duties, their monitoring and surveillance of the detention estate can be more than symbolic and may further the humane and just treatment of the state's most vulnerable citizens.

Although HMCTS and NOMS are working under different terms and conditions, they are now managed together and HR is dealt with by one Shared Service centre.