Someone talking sense about prisons for a change.
Of course, it's not a good story. Cramming people in prison is a great story.

Agree. I met him once, (at a BPI AGM). A sensible bloke who should have been leader of the Conservatives. (If he had followed John Major we may have avoided the latter Blair/Brown years!)

Dame Anne Owers on the news too; also talking a lot of sense.
I met a burglar in prison; lovely guy; said there is no profit in robbing private homes these days "nobody wants to buy second hand stuff any more; new stuff is so cheap".
Simple explanation for why crimes are lower these days.

Ah, Ken Clarke, who has had a sudden conversion on the road to Damascus, (or should that be on the road to the new "liberal" government?).

Of course burglary is lower now ... as another poster has said, you can buy new videos / dvd players for a few quid so who would bother with second-hand (esp if stolen)?

What we need prisons for is to lock-up the violent types (who, far too often, already have enough "chances" anyway).

Prisons should only be for DANGEROUS offenders. At £41,000 a year and £8,000 a week on remand - the cost is too high for small offences or offences which cant be sorted out in a prison.

Mental Health issues - should be sorted out by NHS not prisons.

Drug Addition - should be in specialist units not prisons

Sex Offenders - should be in specialist therapy units not prisons

Foreign Offenders - should be sent back to their countries if they have lived less than a year in the UK before the offence.

We need a prison population of around 20,000. With the Prison Service dealing with proper criminals rather than those with either mental - drug / sex behaviour problems.

Society would be safer - we would all be happier - fewer criminals would be created by the "Universities of Crime" that New Labour created with Mr Howard's help ( what an awful Tory policy )

The CAUSES of crime are the problem. The Prison is not an answer. It is an outdated middle ages concept.