The work to make our prisons true places of reform and
rehabilitation is already under way – and it will continue
unabated.
When someone is convicted of a serious crime, they are rightly
handed down a custodial sentence by our courts. They are punished
by being sent to prison and losing what we cherish most as
citizens – liberty and freedom.
Most will, at some point, be released back into society. So, as
well as depriving people of liberty, our prisons must also be
places of reform and rehabilitation to support offenders to turn
their lives around.
Prisons have been going through a particularly turbulent time and
we need to create calm and ordered environments for that
effective rehabilitation. That means giving offenders the help
they need to get off drugs, and the education, training and
support to help them find employment when they leave prison.
In doing this, prisons don’t work in isolation. They work within
their local communities and with other services – with Probation,
Jobcentres, housing, health and drug services, local businesses
and charities to provide innovative schemes and initiatives to
prepare prisoners for a life after release. We now have more
private sector companies employing ex-offenders than ever before.
, Halfords and The Clink Charity are
just 3 examples of organisations which do great work with prisons
and offenders.
Only by building on this work to reform offenders and support
ex-offenders will we stop the vicious and costly cycle of
reoffending.
This is my priority and as the new Secretary of State, I am
committed to building on the essential reforms that are already
under way to make prisons places of safety and reform.
That has to start with the numbers of prison officers available
to support offenders. More staff will provide the capacity for
them to give more time to directly supervising offenders, through
one-to-one support from a key worker. This engagement will be a
key measure in reducing the currently unacceptable levels of
assaults, self-harm and suicides.
My predecessor has already secured a £100 million a year
investment for an extra 2,500 prison officers. The most recent
figures show the number of prison officers in post has increased
by 515 compared with the previous quarter and we are on track to
deliver all 2,500 prison officers by December 2018. They will
join thousands of dedicated and hard-working prison officers who
undertake such important work, day in day out, to keep our
prisons and the public safe.
We are also tackling key issues to improve security and create
the opportunity for reform and rehabilitation.
On drugs, we have introduced testing for psychoactive substances
across the estate, the first jurisdiction in the world to do so.
We have also trained more than 300 dogs to detect these
substances, and have introduced tough new laws to deal with
people smuggling the substances into prison.
On drones, we are working with the police to catch and convict
criminals using drones to smuggle contraband into prisons. We
have also established a new team of prison and police officers to
directly tackle the threat posed by drones.
On mobile phones, we are working with mobile network operators to
tackle illicit use of phones. We have now fitted out every single
prison across the estate with hand-held mobile phone detectors
and detection poles to step up the detection of illegal phones on
the landings. More than 150 mobile phones have been cut off since
the introduction of new powers through the Serious Crime Act.
We are continuing to transform our prison estate to close old and
dilapidated prisons and create up to 10,000 new places through a
£1.3 billion investment.
We know where the problems lie in our prisons, and we know what
is needed to fix them. We are continuing with, and building on,
these reforms to ensure prisons are safe and secure and are able
to transform the lives of those sent to custody by our courts.
