andyl

Dunno what went on before - and I don't want to - but I agree with the thrust of what Andrew says in his last post. It's no good just locking people up (and we now have the highest prison population ever) if we are not going to prevent them returning to crime on release. The prison regime needs to punish - and loss of liberty is pretty punitive to my mind - and rehabilitate. If we do not provide opportunities for prisoners to receive useful education and to address their behaviour then all we are doing is continuing a vicious cycle, not least because prison currently provides exemplary courses in Further Criminality.

As for Blears' chain gang style idea, it's bonkers, as I've come to expect from a Govt keen on sticking plaster solutions that look good in the right-leaning Press to which they seem increasingly subservient.