More information found....

As I have now joined the Howard League for Penal Reform they have started to send me newsletters and leaflets on up-to-date news.

From The Howard Autumn 2010 Edition...
"Take Action 2010: The New Government responds" by Steve Gummer

• The prison population has doubled since 1994s, now with more than 85,000 inmates
• It costs more to put someone in priosn for a year than it does to send a boy to Eton
• Short prison sentences are impractical, many offenders end up losing thier jobs, homes and families during their time inside
•  An estimated 160,000 children have a parent in prison; they are 3 times more likely to engage in a nti-social and delinquent behaviour than their peers, whilst 65% of boys with a convicted father go on to offend themselves
• Reoffending rates for those serving short prison sentences are double that of those on community orders which cost a tenth of the price

From Take Action 2010 booklet

• Investing in the community:
  Costs £100,000 per place
  Community sentences, unpaid work, restorative justice, drug and alcohol treatment and programmes offering mentoring and training to allow people to make amends for what they have done
  POSSIBLE FOCUS OF MY QUESTION??
• Real work in prisons:
  What little work that is offered in a prison is menial, repetitive and poorly paid, with an average of around £9 a week
  Howard League's graphic design studio Barbed in Coldingley prison
  Pay prisoners a fair wage that is taxed like the rest of us
  ANOTHER POSSIBLE FOCUS OF MY QUESTION....