Prisoners should earn pay rise, says Brown

Gordon Brown confirmed today that he personally intervened to block plans to increase prisoners' pay rates by 37.5 per cent - their first rise for more than a decade.

The Prime Minister 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.

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The Prime Minister overruled proposals put to him yesterday 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 per cent.

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The Ministry of Justice said today that the new rates had been withdrawn and were now part of a ministerial review.

An MoJ spokesman said: "The issue as to whether pay rates should be increased is now being reviewed as part of (Prison Minister) David Hanson's proposals for a new compact balancing the opportunities we give to offenders to turn away from a life of crime with what the community is going to expect of them in return.

"That means meeting certain standards of behaviour whilst in prison and on release, for instance getting off and staying off drugs."

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.

The Prison Service's internet site says work can play a "fundamental role" in providing skills and qualifications that help inmates get a job once they are released.

Jobs vary between jails but can include catering, cleaning, data entry, component assembly and even computer-aided design.

Juliet Lyon, of the Prison Reform Trust, told Today: "If we are serious about encouraging people to lead a responsible life on release and to work constructively, then clearly it's not much to ask that they get another pound a week.

"We are talking about £4 a week, going up to £5.50 a week, out of which prisoners have to pay for all their phone calls at an exorbitant rate... they have often to rent a TV and they have to buy a few bits and pieces from the canteen if they can afford it.

"We are talking about pence here, nothing substantial, but this hasn't changed for 10 years."

She blamed "muscle flexing" by prison officer union chiefs engaged in a leadership battle for stoking media reports that prisoners enjoyed easy conditions.

"Staff have a right to feel they are really under pressure but, unfortunately, using these sort of headline-grabbing techniques may have led everybody to believe this fantasy that people are having a very cushy life.

"If you look at the level of self-harm or suicide, it completely blows away the idea that this is cushy and it shows you just how very tough it is," she said.

Labour MP Nick Palmer, a member of the Home Affairs Select Committee, said it would not be right to make a "special case" for prisoners at a time of pay restraint for public sector workers.

"We are asking nurses, police officers and prison staff and teachers all to accept pay rises of 2 per cent-3 per cent; I do not think we can sensibly or even reasonably say prisoners should get a pay rise of 38%."

Ms Lyon later accused the Government of "penny-pinching".

She said: "Constructive work in prisons, housing and employment on release and contact with families are the things that cut reoffending.

"Overturning the decision to raise prisoners' pay for the first time in 10 years is not only penny-pinching but also short-sighted.

"Many prisoners would have spent the extra £1.50 on a phone card to ring home or try to sort out accommodation or a job."