Gap between reality and aspiration in jails

guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 14 June 2011

The ideas promoted by Policy Exchange (Prisoners should work full-time, says report, 13 June) chime with the government's green paper, which called for prisons to become places of hard work and industry. They also coincide with publication of the inspection of the young offenders institution at Rochester. The chief inspector talks of "young men sleeping their way through sentences" and more than a quarter of prisoners locked in their cells in the working part of the day. There is a huge chasm between aspiration and current reality.

The gap can only realistically be closed if the other cornerstones of prison reform: to eliminate unnecessary use of remand; to constrain use of indeterminate sentences; and to divert those with serious mental health problems and learning disabilities into treatment and support away from the criminal justice system, are taken forward in the forthcoming justice bill. The call for a new prisoner minimum wage, which is less than the national minimum wage to reflect board and lodging costs, is also welcome. Real work for real wages would provide people for whom a period in custody is inevitable with essential preparation for a law-abiding life on release.

Geoff Dobson

Deputy director, Prison Reform Trust

• I do like the new right wing idea of prisoners working full-time. It did wonders for the rehabilitation of my ancestors in Botany Bay. Deducting the cost of food and board is a smart contemporary innovation, but what about charging for depreciation on the cat o' nine tails?

Scott Poynting

Manchester

Prisoners should pay their way in full-time jobs to help victims and cut reoffending, says new report

New research from leading think tank Policy Exchange calls for major reforms to drive an agenda of “real work” in prison. Ahead of new prison reform proposals to be published by the Ministry of Justice, the study – Inside Job: creating a market for real work in prison – says thousands of prisoners could be doing useful,http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif profitable full-time jobs which go some way to paying back victims and taxpayers.

The report recommends a whole new prison work regime based on full-time, paid employment that is run by private companies, profit-driven and commissioned by prison governors. Offenders would still go to prison – but regimes would do much more to offer proper work for inmates to make them more employable on release. Privileges – like in-cell TVs – should be reformed to focus on those who work and paid for out of wages. The result would be more prisoners working, with the most engaged and compliant prisoners getting privileges from work.
See more at http://www.policyexchange.org.uk/assets/Inside_Job_PR.pdf