Webmanager_CritEst formulated on Wednesday :
> 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 £4 a week to £5.50 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 £2.50 to £4, 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 The Ministry of Justice said that the new rates had been withdrawn and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.
>
> http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_2835791.html?menu=
>
> *****
> WM
> www.critest.com
I know a guy that has been in prisons over the years and has completed
the following.
Football referee course, Canoeing instructor course, CLAIT, IBT, A text
processing diploma and numerous other computer based training
certificates. He learned to plaster and he learned to paint and hang
wall paper. He got himself pretty well educated which he would not
have afforded to do on the street and he can operate many different
types of plant machinery i.e. JCB and mini-digger, dumper etc.
He has been out a few months but I will give him until about June until
he is back in again. A career criminal he has no intention of working
for a living and will continue to commit crime. This guy started out
in children's homes and worked his way up through DC, YC, YP and right
up to Cat A status. A very dangerous man but also well educated thanks
to the Government policy and he will never use any of it.
--
Baldoni
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