The Government's commitment to prisons in the Queen's Speech is a welcome, but overdue, reform

Prisons have become “places of violence, squalor and idleness”. If this is to change, investment – in facilities and above all, in staff – will be needed

Wandsworth Prison will be among the first sites to be reformed (Getty)

Prison reform is one of the great moral duties of government.

The penal systems in Britain and in developed countries around the world have changed greatly since Dostoyevsky wrote that the level of civilisation in a society can be gauged by entering its prisons. But the maxim holds true today, and much still needs to be done.

David Cameron and Justice Secretary Michael Gove’s decision to place a new Prison Reform Bill at the heart of yesterday’s Queen’s Speech is therefore welcome.

Much credit is due to Mr Gove for bringing a reforming zeal back to a Government that lost its way under former Justice Secretary Chris Grayling (the outrageous attempt to limit access to books to prisoners stands out in the memory).

Mr Gove’s vision of prisons as “places of education, work and purposeful activity” chimes with the expert view that rehabilitation, not brutalisation, is the means by which individuals who have strayed into criminality become law-abiding citizens again. It meets the moral imperative to improve their lives, and the practical imperative of cutting re-offending rates.

But haven’t we been here before? The coalition government promised a “rehabilitation revolution” in 2010 that never materialised. Since then, the Ministry of Justice has seen deep cuts to its budget and prison standards have deteriorated drastically.

The Chief Inspector of Prisons said last year that overcrowding and staff shortages had contributed to prisons becoming “places of violence, squalor and idleness”. If this is to change, investment – in facilities and above all, in staff – will be needed.

Mr Cameron and Mr Gove have to put their money where their mouth is. Our prisons may not cope with another six years of broken promises.