This is politically very difficult to do though. It will be seen as being soft on crime. A system focused on rehabilitation requires the public to not be as bloodthirsty as they are in the US. They need to given former felons a chance after they've carried out their punishment.
Near on all of the knife crime in the UK has it's roots to do with heroin and cocaine (in all forms like crack).
You get users who due to habit get dealers into their homes and they call it cuckooing, though sadly they hand that excuse out to all users, even ones that know exactly what they are doing and keep getting away with that same excuse.
It is this lack dealing and victimhood blanket upon all users that keeps the market buoyant and the gang turf wars in which you see runners (those who deliver the drugs) being the brunt of knife crime victims.
Sadly, this enables a situation in which they keep targeting the effect and not the source. Sure they put a few members of a gang away, those left soon rebuild and seen this happen so many times it is beyond painful to see this play out time and time again.
Then you have the rehab failings that equally do not help users get clean, this see's the NHS suffer and numerous services abused as they are just too soft. Sure there are legit victims and you could say all addict are victims, but when many addicts are the source of daily shop theft, burglary, fraud.... You see just see the flames fanned with petrol.
Whilst not a solution for addiction, has stymied the knock on effect of crime.
But the lack of proper rehab facilities and support just ends up with the NHS handing out methadone (more addictive) as a solution and even that get's abused and they all know somebody who can provide clean piss for any tests and with that, still use heroin, just augment usage with the methadone.
Then this all gets down to the addict - actually wanting to give up. Many don't and will often only go thru the motions to appease some judge and with that, they are great at gaming the system.
Now, if they would legalise the less dangerous drugs like canabis in the UK and tax that, then they could use that money to finance education, and more so proper rehab.
Equally, poor area's, they are and always will be the source of driving people towards drugs and that's because their reality is just depressing, this see's such area's often become drugs hotbeds.
But sadist part is the police depend upon information from the public, alas been so many instances in which that is misused and ignored to the extent that anybody informing is soon known by those gangs and users and they resort to making false reports to the police and I've seen many good honest people in my area driven away and suffer. That is a bigger issue than the media care to acknowledge.
But let's step back and think - if drugs are a big issue in prisons, what hope has society when they can't control an environment they have totalitarian control over!
As ever, it gets down to money and again - if they was to legalise some drugs and tax those as they have done with alcohol and tobacco, they could use that to fund all this and equally, make things better for all.
Sadly, many people see the issues and even those in a position to have a voice that is heard, but alas they soon shot down by those who just want to be seen to be doing their job, over actually doing it. That is very much prevalent within the police and again - all based upon experience. So you end up with a system that tackles the effect and not the root cause of what is responsible for the bulk of crime we see on the streets.
So in effect to fix the prisons - they need to fix the reasons why people are in those prisons.
But yes - rehab needs to happen, but equally it needs to be done right and properly - if they can't do that right in prisons, then they have no hope in society and that is exactly how it is alas.
