It's All Down to Categorisation

http://www.insidetime.org/Aug06_Articles/categ.htm
Peter Hannigan
"Reflects on an arduous five-year journey to open conditions and what the author considers to be the wholly inappropriate system of categorisation. The Home Office prisoner categorisation system fuels and compounds many of the problems that see the media having a field day with us over and over again. Categorisation is determined by your sentence, having no regard as such to your crime, your moral standing, personality, family ties, working history and future prospects. Those classed as ‘dangerous’, imprisoned for sex crimes or violence, repeat offenders and those that are a measurable risk to society are deliberately mixed into the general prison population amongst those of us that are not. Offending behaviour programmes are then lamely offered across the board to suffice Home Office targets, and not a target audience. Overworked and underpaid prison officers, coping with low morale and constant criticism try to make good with limited tools, resources and funding." [Prison Management; Treatment of Offenders]]