Prison reform plan to be unveiled

Prison reform plan to be unveiled

Justice Secretary Jack Straw is due to announce prison reform measures aimed at reducing the rate of reoffending.

He will outline plans to encourage criminals to undertake behaviour programmes and to learn new skills.

In return, they would be expected to meet certain standards of behaviour inside and outside prison.

He will also confirm the government is trying to find sites for the huge Titan prisons in south-east and north-west England and the West Midlands.

On Wednesday, he suggested that the huge 2,500-place jails might not go ahead because the government did not have planning permission for them.

Drug searches

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "We're not going to have large warehouses as they have in the United States and indeed France" - prompting suggestions of a government U-turn.

But later Prime Minister Gordon Brown said they would go ahead, after consultation.

Mr Straw is due to unveil plans in a written statement to MPs later.

The BBC's Danny Shaw said ministers were also to look at the possibility of more rigorous drugs searches in prisons, and whether prisoners should lose visiting rights if they fail drug tests.

Last year the prison population hit a record high of more than 81,000, and that figure is predicted to carry on growing, but Mr Straw said that under Labour crime had fallen and the number of prison places provided had risen by 20,000.

There are currently 1,200 spare places, with an additional 1,000 coming on stream in April and 2,600 during 2008.

Earlier this week Mr Straw announced plans to merge the Prison Service with other parts of the justice system.

It followed criticism of the National Offender Management Service (Noms) which was set up partly to tackle rates of reoffending, by joining up different parts of the criminal justice system.