Cameron sets out vision for prison reform

PRISON LEAGUE tables could be published in future as part of a new drive to end the 'scandalous' failure of the current system, David Cameron will say today.
David Cameron visited a prison in 2012David Cameron visited a prison in 2012
David Cameron visited a prison in 2012

The Prime Minister will set out plans to publish data on prison performance as part of a wider overhaul that will also see some prison governors given more freedom over how they run their jails.

Mr Cameron will point to high reoffending rates that cost the economy as much as £13 billion a year as one of the reasons prison reform is needed.

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He will promise victims of crime will always be the Government’s priority adding: “But I also strongly believe that we must offer chances to change; that for those trying hard to turn themselves around, we should offer hope; that in a compassionate country, we should help those who’ve made mistakes to find their way back onto the right path.

“In short: we need a prison system that doesn’t see prisoners as simply liabilities to be managed, but instead as potential assets to be harnessed.

“But the failure of our system today is scandalous.”

As part of the package of measures to be unveiled today, the Prime Minister has asked for a review of the way the prison system treats pregnant women and those with young children.

Lord Falconer, Labour’s Shadow Justice Secretary, said: “With an estimated 200 000 children affected by parental imprisonment, many of whom are more likely to have mental health problems and to be involved in offending, it is right that we urgently look at the way the criminal justice system treats pregnant women and mothers with children.”

But Lord Falconer said the Government was “still burying its hand in the sand when it comes to the state our prisons are in.”