British announce major overhaul of prison system

The Conservative government will today announce what it claims is the biggest shake-up of Britain’s prison system since Victorian times, promising that prisons will no longer warehouse prisoners but help them to turn their lives around.

The changes, which will be announced in the Queen's Speech in parliament today, will be piloted in six "reform prisons", including Wandsworth, one of the biggest in Europe.

Governors of these prisons will have unprecedented freedom to decide how the prison budget is spent and to make their own decisions on education, the prison regime, family visits, and partnerships to provide prison work and rehabilitation services. Statistics will be published for each prison showing how many inmates reoffend, get a job on release, and engage in violence and self-harm.

Prime minister David Cameron said the reforms would form part of a programme of social reform aimed at reducing barriers to opportunity and extend life chances for all.

“For too long, we have left our prisons to fester. Not only does that re-enforce the cycle of crime, increasing the bills of social failure that taxpayers must pick up. It writes off thousands of people. This is a government, and this is a country, that sees the best in all, and wants to give everyone the chance to rise up and make the most of themselves,” he said.

“So today, we start the long-overdue, long-needed change that our prisons need. No longer will they be warehouses for criminals; they will now be places where lives are changed.”