(3) It is desirable that the activities of such agencies shall be centralized or coordinated as far as possible in order to secure the best use of their efforts. IMPLICATIONS Prisoners are sent to prison to be punished by being deprived of their liberty for a period of time. The vast majority of them will return to the community once they have completed their sentences. An important task of prison staff is to prepare prisoners to live within the law after they are released from prison. In most prison systems, the majority of prisoners are serving short sentences and will return to the community quite quickly. There is a temptation for prison authorities to concentrate on the needs of prisoners who are coming to the end of long sentences and to overlook those who are serving short sentences. If this happens, there is a real danger that prisoners serving short sentences will return to prison again and again. Special arrangements need to be made to prepare prisoners who have served very long sentences for release because their support structures within the community may have broken down or disappeared. Prison staff cannot work in isolation. They should encourage governmental and nongovernmental organizations which work with former offenders in the community to come into the prison to build relationships with prisoners before they are released. PRACTICAL RECOMMENDATIONS ■ Prison staff should motivate prisoners to change their behaviour and to help them to live a different lifestyle when they leave the prison. ■ Prisoners will benefit from a pre-release programme. This might include helping them to improve their confidence and self-esteem and giving them a sense of responsibility. A pre-release programme might also be helpful to them in finding jobs or accommodation when they leave prison. The longer they have spent in custody, the more important such programmes will be. ■ Specific programmes aimed, for example, at sex offenders, or anger-control programmes for violent offenders, can play an important part in helping prisoners to be more law-abiding on release. ■ Other programmes can be directed against habits which are often associated with criminality, such as excessive drinking or gambling or dependence on drugs. Sometimes, where such programmes already exist in the community, it is possible to introduce them into prisons. ■ Prisoners should be made aware that the community in general, and their former victims in particular, may be concerned at the prospect of their release. ■ Agencies which help unemployed people or homeless people could be involved in the pre-release programmes for prisoners. These might include probation and social services, religious groups and other non-governmental organizations. ■ Some prisoners, such as those who have served long sentences or those who are still considered to be a danger to the public, might be given conditional release or parole. This means that they will be subject to formal supervision in the community. 110