A bold initiative to tackle prison overcrowding and re-offending.

Bobby Cummines FRSA speaks of Unlock’s – The National Association of Reformed Offenders – Diamond project as being: “tough, with amazing clarity and priceless”.

After the Carter report, recommendation of building titan prison establishments, holding up to 2,500 prisoners, Cummines felt the need to criticize the proposals and highlight the alternative plans that would bring down the need for prison places.

“Titan jails would be like super warehousing with no rehabilitation. Once they have been built, we would have lost the fight against crime, vulnerable prisoners would be at risk, and staff would also face problems, especially if it all went wrong, like if a riot occurred, where would all of those prisoners go?”

If we look at the American prison system:  “Super jails have more rape and murder, the strong rule and the weak get eaten up”.

In regards to the Diamond project: “It’s a way of making prison a more positive experience, by turning out educated people who then become tax payers and are not a burden on society. This results in more humanised people, so less victims encountering brutalised criminals”.

The project would consist of campus like centres around the country where offenders sentenced to less than 12 months would be taught trades such as building and plumbing.

As more than half of the people in prison are sentenced to less than 12 months in the UK, this would allow a reduction in the current overcrowding rates.

The project hopes that when people find paid work, they can start paying the project back for their training, saving the tax payer money and allowing people to become self-supporting.

Nick Herbert commenting on the titan prison proposal states: “Prison is essential but we must have prisons with a purpose and make prisons work again.”

Vince Cable suggests: “The answer to build a bigger and bigger prison capacity is simply a lazy response to a very real problem. A lot of people in prison should be properly educated and trained so that they do not come back.”

Caroline Lucas agrees that: “The worry with a big, macho, titan, massive prison is actually when you look at what the experts say, smaller local prisons, closer to the community are more effective, they work better, they are safer and they actually have a higher rate of rehabilitation.”