The government’s plans for super ‘Titan’ jails holding up to 2,500 prisoners haven’t gone down well, it seems. Ann Owers, Chief Inspector of Prisons, said:

[I]f we look across the Channel we see the French who built one of these kinds of prisons in the 1980s and have never done so again.

Jack Straw dithered, Gordon Brown didn’t.

It occurs to me that the next step would be to wall in a town like they do in Escape From New York. Look out for it being announced soon as the parties try to outdo each other in the run up to the next general election.

One of the concerns about Titan jails is that all the money is spent on building the things and funding for other programmes could be lost. Programmes to cut the unbelievably high levels of re-offending for example.

In his interview on Radio 4 the other morning, Justice Minister Jack Straw had this to say (8 minutes 30 seconds in) about re-offending:

There’s a serious problem about prisoners who are sent to prison for less than 12 months because they’re not given the supervision they need and we wan to try and change that when we’ve got the resources.

Well, it seems, after 48 hours of will-they-won’t headlines about Titan jails, he’s found the resources:

The justice secretary has said fresh prison reforms will cut reoffending rates, reduce drug use in jails and give more skills to offenders.

Very good, and a welcome and useful sop to liberals and Chief Inspectors of Prisons everywhere. In his written statement to Parliament, Straw says:

The announcements I am making today signal a major drive to overcome some of the barriers to the rehabilitation of offenders. Our primary aim in doing so is further to aid the work we are already doing on cutting reoffending. These measures are focused on tackling drug use among offenders and providing opportunities for offenders to learn the new skills which might help them to a life away from crime outside prison.

Like I said, all very welcome. There’s no mention if prisoner serving less than 12 months will be included in the programmes, or indeed, who will be included specifically.

It’s also odd that Straw didn’t brag about these new resources and measures on the radio when he was being slapped about by John Humphreys on the subject of re-offending rates. Was he anxious not to alienate the hang ‘em/flog ‘em mob that forms so large a slice of New Labour’s constituency these days? Or is the ink on this idea still wet?

Let’s hope this isn’t a simple reannouncement of an existing policy (it wouldn’t be the first time under this lot). Let’s also hope that Straw’s ‘fresh’ prison reforms are different and more successful than ones announced in the past.

So yes, good idea Jack. Well done. But that’s all it is at this stage, an idea. And it’s a shame you slipped this out in a written statement to Parliament when a brave man, proud of his new idea, would have toured the radio and television studios boasting of how this new measure is going to make the country safer, save the taxpayer a bundle and fire the erogeoneous zones of liberals. Done right, this is a crowd-pleaser and no mistake.

But then, Jack’s be-nimble approach is only to be expected when policy on such emotive issues has to be formulated with one eye on the tabloid press. It wouldn’t do for a Justice Minister to flash a soft heart at those looking for red meat.

(Cross posted at Chicken Backup)