All Mod Cons By Jim Higo (2/2)

(1/2), (2/2).

The natural progression of choice will result in convicted criminals being given the option of which prison they want to be sent to, having first been given time to consider the latest published results against key performance indicators. Your honour, I know Hull has a really good arts department but I really fancy Durham as its Maths pass rate is outstanding.

To which the judge replies, Sonny if you want to get into Durham you're going to have to come back to me with a lot more then armed robbery. Durham is a drive by shooting at minimum. And obviously anyone from a council estate or with a disability should forget about trying to get into any prison in Oxford.

Inmates in Strangeways were asked what they thought about the plans. One bloke serving a three stretch for aggravated burglary thought that getting an education while he was inside was a great idea. He went on to say that at least he'd have a couple of A levels to fall back on if the bottom ever fell out of the house breaking business. Every prisoner is going to get an individual training plan as part of his sentence and each prison will have a special educational needs co-ordinator. The training plans will be based on what the individual considers will be of most use in the future.

Big Dave, the drug dealer from Croydon wants to get into ID theft and thinks that a course in IT will be a great help. Steve from Basildon is looking to take up cultural studies to help him with his people smuggling business and Danny wants to do metalwork and geography as he is planning to escape. Each block will have a leader or Daddy as they used to be called and he will come round to each cell every night and take your snout away if you haven't done your homework.

These ideas have already been tested in Sweden with great success. In Malmo, one inmate attacked a warder so that his sentence would be increased just long enough for him to finish his sociology degree. In Stockholm prisoners are being allowed back in to jail after they have been released just so they can finish their studies, in a sort of day release in reverse. But then if you've ever been stuck in Stockholm for longer than a day you'd want to lock yourself in a dark room as well.

Of course all of this is, as usual, merely a smoke screen to mask the deficiencies of virtually every other government policy. Instead of getting to the root cause they just put a flimsy bandage on the already septic wound.

We exist in a time when the gap between the rich and the poor is larger than ever and when the poorest communities have the worst schools, the worst housing and the worst healthcare. Evidence-based research shows that almost all prisoners have a history of social exclusion, including high levels of family, educational and health disadvantages.

New Labour has failed categorically on any level to deal with these aspects of social exclusion and expecting the Prison Service to correct eight years of policy failure is clearly a case of closing the cell door after the prisoner has got away. What Blair and his New Labour lackeys have failed to realise is that increasing the standard of education in prisons can only have one outcome. In every inner city, in every deprived community, on every council estate, crime will spiral out of control as millions of kids realise that going to prison will be their only way of getting a decent education.

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