On Monday night I watched the start of a short new series on ITV 1 called 'Wormwood Scrubs'. The Scrubs is one of the UK’s most infamous prisons with room for some 1,300 men. It was first built in the Victorian era and still has many of the original buildings – making it a striking feature in the urban landscape of London.

To critique a series after only one programme is surely a mistake, but critiquing the prison system following one heavily edited fly on the wall documentary even more so. There is no way of knowing how typical the events depicted on Monday’s edition actually are. But those events included a high proportion of self-harm, drug abuse, and bullying. Though we did not receive any statistics on the film, we do know that such things are a regular feature of prison life. Far from being a holiday camp, prison is a brutal and brutalising experience and it is only by being (or becoming) very hardened that most are able to survive their sentence. One stat that was presented was that on a wing of 300 men there are only some 12 officers. In circumstances such as these there is a severe limit on what those officers are able to achieve.

I found watching the film a stressful experience in itself, so what it must be like on the inside I can barely imagine. Of course, harder men than me find themselves imprisoned, but even for the toughest it cannot be a pleasant experience. Violence is always present; drug abuse is rife; self-cutting is a common coping strategy.

I fully realise that there are times when prison is the only option for some criminals. Society needs to be protected from those who cause chaos and fear. But the stats are clear that prison does not work – the re-offending rates are very high. While prison does punish, it does not rehabilitate.

Watching the film on Monday I came to the conclusion that one of the things that stands against rehabilitation is the harshness of prison life itself. An essential step in reforming these men is for them to release the anger that lies deep within – anger that has often resulted from a brutal upbringing in their early years. Most prisoners are drug addicts; most drug addicts have suffered abuse of some kind in their childhood. An essential aspect of dealing with the anger that stems from abuse is being vulnerable: opening up the pain within; sharing it with others; exploring its effects – all of this is essential for the anger to be dealt with. But the harshness and brutality of prison means that being vulnerable like this is not an option for most, for the only way to survive is to harden up even more.

This was a sobering documentary, disturbing even. For me it was essential viewing, for today I take my place for the first time as a JP and in the months and years ahead prison will be a sentencing option in many cases.