David Gauke’s speech at Centre for Social Justice

We welcome the Secretary of State’s speech earlier today on his department’s further plans to make prisons places of meaningful rehabilitation – which we know leads to more effective resettlement, and ultimately a reduction in reoffending, allowing people to positively move forward with their lives.
Consistent contact with family for prisoners is absolutely central to sustainable and effective resettlement and we therefore welcome the announcement that the Ministry of Justice will be investing £7 million for in-cell telephony. As one of the Farmer review recommendations, we look forward to seeing swift implementation of the remaining recommendations of this important review to aid critical links with family.

We welcome the opportunity to feed in our views through the consultation on incentives and privileges for prisoners, we know it is critical that any new arrangements or schemes are not one size fits all and do not disadvantage those with mental health problems or other vulnerabilities.

Exploring the use of alternatives to prisons for those who do not need to be there, as well as making prisons places of meaningful rehabilitation for those that are is essential and we look forward to working closely with the government on developing this.