M
Member
Speaking in the House of Lords on 1 December 2025
Debate
Sentencing BillContribution
The modern prison system is predicated, for a large part, on rehabilitation. This implies leaving prison with an improved outlook and a developed set of competencies, compared with those with which the prisoner entered prison. Current prisoners are organised, at least in theory, around this end. Schemes, courses and work are often available to guide prisoners into productive work while they are inside and to prepare them for when they leave, but this is not mandatory. They are not offered out of obligation; rather, offers are based on capacity and funding. Indeed, they are often reliant on funding. This creates a very unequal and disorderly system in which some inmates are rehabilitated and some are not. That is usually the result of factors out of their control. There is no point creating a system intended to rehabilitate if the system does not, in fact, provide the means to deliver that.
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