Criminals To Work 40-Hour Week

New plans, set to be unveiled by the Justice Secretary, could mean prisoners working a 40-hour week while in jail.

Describing prisons as places "of institutionalised idleness", Ken Clarke will refresh the system with proceeds from prison employment being used to support victims of crime.

Prisoners currently do not work, however attending classes and workshops can earn them, on average, £9.60 a week.

Each year, however, the Prison Service pays out around £36m for this.

At the upcoming Tory conference, Mr Clarke is expected to say: "I want to revive a policy of John Major's last Conservative government and make deductions from the earnings of working prisoners to provide compensation for victims of crime.

"In order to raise those funds, we need to instil in our jails a regime of hard work. Most prisoners lead a life of enforced, bored idleness, where getting out of bed is optional.

"If we want to reduce the crimes these people will commit when they get out, whilst boosting the amount that can be provided for victim support, we need as many prisoners as possible to work hard for regular working hours."

The Prisoners' Earnings Act 1996, devised to raise money for crime victims from prison employment, currently only applies to jobs outside jail and was never fully implemented by the Labour government.

The new scheme could provide approximately £1m per year towards victim compensation schemes.

Mr Clarke is keen to expand the remit of the Act, and said: "We have to try to get those people who have the backbone, to go straight. To handle a life without crime when they have finished their punishment.

"So we will make it easier for Prison governors to bring more private companies into their jails to create well-run businesses, employing prisoners in regular, nine-to-five jobs.

"There are already some excellent examples to build on. Timpsons, the family firm of our MP for Crewe and Nantwich, Edward Timpson, is one.

"The National Grid and Cisco Systems also go into prisons to offer training and the prospect of a job and a life away from crime at the end of the sentence.

"I hope to see many, many more companies like these stepping in and offering their expertise to organise productive industries in many of our prisons."

(BMcN/KMcA)