Prisons minister Lord James Timpson has advised Sky Information that he’s having “a dialog” with parliament and the general public sector about hiring extra ex-convicts.

Lord Timpson pushed for ex-offenders to get employment at his household’s Timpson chain whereas CEO – with round 10% of staff being former convicts – and beforehand chaired the Jail Reform Belief.

He stepped down from each roles when he turned a minister and peer after the final election.

Talking to the Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge, Lord Timpson was requested if parliament ought to “paved the way” by hiring extra ex-offenders.

Lord Timpson stated it was “a dialog” he was having throughout the entire public sector.

He stated that some departments – just like the Ministry of Justice – already employed “folks with jail expertise” in particular roles.

However he stated that some job roles are “probably not proper for these sorts of individuals” – including that in his 20 years within the non-public sector, hiring former prisoners “hasn’t all the time gone proper”.

He added: “Over time, we learnt that once you discover the fitting folks on the proper time of their life, they will make actually good colleagues and switch their life round.”

Lord Timpson was talking to the Politics Hub as the federal government introduced a 10-year jail capability plan – together with plans “to construct the 14,000 locations the final authorities didn’t ship”.

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The minister advised Sky Information that whereas rehabilitation and decreasing reoffending have been necessary, the UK nonetheless wanted extra jail locations.

Lord Timpson was requested about Reform UK MP James McMurdock, who was jailed 18 years in the past for repeatedly kicking his girlfriend, in accordance with court docket paperwork.

The minister stated that whereas he didn’t learn about Mr McMurdock’s case specifically, “what I do know is that when prisons work properly, they will rehabilitate folks”.

He added: “It isn’t nearly what the jail can do, it is what the offenders can do themselves.

“And the quantity of people that depart jail and go on to have implausible lives – they type loving relationships, they’ve jobs, they’re colleagues of yours, in all probability, and mine.

“However there are too many people who find themselves simply re-offending and again and again.”

Learn extra:
Prisons system was ‘teetering on the sting of catastrophe’
Below-strain jail system to close hundreds of cells
Inside UK’s ‘wild west’ court docket system

Moms in prisons

One other space of the justice system Lord Timpson was requested about was moms who’ve kids whereas incarcerated – and whether or not the newborns ought to be inside jail partitions.

The peer shared a narrative from his youth, as his mom was a foster carer who used to take care of infants born by ladies in jail.

He stated: “I used to spend so much of time sitting exterior Styal Girls’s Jail whereas my mum took the infants in on a go to.

“So it is one thing I am, you understand, I discover… It is a very complicated drawback.

“The very fact is that the perfect place for a child is with their mom, however, sadly, when their mom is in jail, it causes plenty of issues.”

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Lord Timpson says he has visited mom and child prisons, and there are “wonderful volunteers” that take the newborns out “for a few days per week so that they get used to regular life”.

“There are a small variety of infants in jail with their moms,” he added – and says the Girls’s Justice Board is wanting on the situation and extra work shall be accomplished within the new 12 months.

The minister additionally says that 80% of girls prisoners are in for non-violent offences, and so much “are victims themselves” and may have been “diverted” away from custody earlier on.