Spirit of genuine inquiry: Gove to take recommendations about serious prison reform

Michael Gove is considering the idea of an 'earned release' for prisoners who make a commitment to serious educational activity and can demonstrate they contribute to society.

Speaking at an event hosted by the Prisoner Learning Alliance, the Lord Chancellor said more could be done to attach privileges in prison to attendance and achievement in education, and suggested independent management as a means of implementing change.

'One of the biggest brakes on progress in our prisons is the lack of operational autonomy and genuine independence enjoyed by governors. Whether in state or private prisons there are very tight, centrally-set criteria on how every aspect of prison life should be managed,' he said.

Gove acknowledged his own work when he praised the 'success of foundation hospitals and academy schools - that operational freedom for good professionals drives innovation and improvement'.

The newly appointed justice secretary empathised with the lack of stimulation within prisons, suggesting this contributed to inmates going on to reoffend.

'There must be an end to the idleness and futility of so many prisoners' days,' he said. 'A fifth of prisoners are scarcely out of their cells for more than a couple of hours each day.'

Gove continued: 'In prisons there is a - literally - captive population, whose inability to read properly or master basic mathematics makes them prime candidates for reoffending.

'Ensuring those offenders become literate and numerate makes them employable and thus contributors to society, not a problem for our communities. Getting poorly-educated adults to a basic level of literacy and numeracy is straightforward.'

The former education secretary said that as a society we are failing to make prisons work, and that 'we do not have the right incentives for prisoners to learn or for prison staff to prioritise education. And that's got to change.'

Spirit of genuine inquiry

Gove acknowledged that his suggestions were technical and complex questions, but which were asked in a 'spirit of genuine inquiry.'

'But while I am open to all ideas,' he continued, 'and keen to engage with the widest range of voices, there is a drive to change things, an urgent need to improve how we care for offenders, which will shape my response.

'Our streets will not be safer, our children will not be properly protected, and our future will not be more secure unless we change the way we treat offenders and offenders then change their lives for the better.

Laura Clenshaw is the managing editor of Solicitors Journal

@L_Clenshaw