Brown: Prisoners must earn pay rise
Prime Minister Gordon Brown has confirmed that he personally
intervened to block plans to increase prisoners' pay rates by 37.5% -
their first rise for more than a decade.
Mr Brown said any changes in pay should come as part of a new contract
being drawn up which will reward inmates for good behaviour behind
bars and participation in programmes designed to prevent reoffending,
such as drug treatment.
The Prime Minister overruled proposals put to him on Tuesday by the
Prison Service Management Board to increase the minimum pay rate for
an offender working inside a jail from =A34 a week to =A35.50 a week.
The minimum rate for prisoners who are ill or deemed unemployed
because there is not anything for them to do was also set to go up,
from =A32.50 to =A34, a rise of 60%.
The announcement that the proposed increase was being blocked came
days after the deputy general secretary of the Prison Officers
Association, Glyn Travis, claimed life was so "cushy" in Britain's
jails that inmates were passing up chances to escape.
The Ministry of Justice said that the new rates had been withdrawn and
were now part of a ministerial review.
Speaking on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, Mr Brown explained: "To
be absolutely clear, the proposal came to me yesterday that we wanted
to announce that we raise the wages of prisoners.
"We are now debating a contract with prisoners so they are better
behaved. I think any debate about what prisoners receive in pay should
be part of that new contract.
"There should be rights, but there should be responsibilities, and
it's the responsibilities of prisoners that I am interested in."
The Prison Service operates a range of restrictions on inmates'
finances and they are not allowed to hold cash for security reasons.
Money earned can be spent on expenses like phone calls, renting a TV
or buying treats from the canteen.
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