Bill Carmichael: Prisoners need skills, not TVs

If you think they shouldn’t then there are many people out there happy to label you as a fully paid up member of the hang ’em and flog ’em brigade. But there is nothing remotely reactionary about these views – the issue is one of basic fairness. Prisons emphatically should not be vindictive or cruel places and people incarcerated there should be treated decently and adequately housed, clothed and fed.

But jails are – or should be – places of punishment and there’s nothing wrong with society collectively expressing disapproval of the people convicted of violence or dishonesty who end up there.

There is also the important issue of deterrence. The experience of prison should be sufficiently unpleasant to convince inmates not to return – and even perhaps go straight and live a better life within the law.

For these reasons the announcement by the Government this week of a new austere prison regime is to be welcomed.

The measures might smack of a desperate piece of popularism by a Conservative party that has belatedly realised it needs to reconnect with its core support, after years of obsessing about global warming and gay marriage. But that doesn’t mean they are wrong. Justice Secretary Chris Grayling announced this week that prisoners will in future be required to work harder to earn perks and privileges and will be charged if they damage their cells.

There will also be a blanket ban on subscription television and 18-plus DVDs.

All pretty sensible – and you might ask why the hell convicts were allowed access to Sky Sports and violent and adult movies in the first place. But let’s not kid ourselves that this is some kind of magic bullet that will solve criminal justice problem.

People who end up in prison are often much damaged with high levels of mental illness, drug abuse and illiteracy.

Reoffending rates among ex-prisoners are frighteningly high, although it must be said that reoffending rates for those on alternatives to prison, such as community sentences, aren’t too clever either.

Turning these people into upstanding and valuable members of the community is never going to be easy. For prisons, punishment is the relatively easy bit – rehabilitation is a far tougher nut to crack.

That is why work in jail, with education and training, is vitally important. The aim is to equip convicts with sufficient skills to enable them to make an honest living on the outside without resorting to crime.

And let’s face it; prisoners aren’t going to learn how to be decent citizens by sitting around watching daytime television.

Special brew

What’s the most irritating thing about your work colleagues?

Arriving late, leaving dirty plates on their desks after lunch, or insisting on coming into work when they are ill and then coughing and sneezing over everybody else? Or perhaps it’s those workmates who disappear every 15 minutes for a fag break, or those who use management-speak such as “thinking outside the box”?

How about colleagues who insist on sending an email even when the recipient is sitting opposite, or those who have mobile phones with a loud “comedy” ringtone?

A survey this week by the Institute of Leadership and Management found all these pet hates common in British offices, but there was one that struck a chord with me – resentment at those who never get the tea in. Regular cups of tea are the lubricant that oils the wheels of British commerce and if you want things to run smoothly in the office there is one essential rule – always stand your round.