"The government's prison and probation policies are not working and must be reformed if crime is to be lowered and public confidence in criminal justice restored." No, not a damning declaration from the prison reform lobby, but the verdict of employers' group the CBI.
The organisation has published a new report - its first and frankly surprising foray into criminal justice critique. Perhaps its senior executives picked up a few ideas from our criminal justice special edition last week in which ex-offenders like Mark Johnson
outlined what government could learn from the people who have served time?
Today's CBI report, Getting Back on the Straight and Narrow, advocates "treating prisoners with decency" and "paying far closer attention" to issues like drug dependency, lack of skills and behavioural problems.
Now, while the government is accustomed to fending off swipes from the CBI on issues such as taxation, red tape and the minimum wage, it was perhaps not expecting such detailed analysis and progressive recommendations for criminal just reform.
The CBI's deputy director general, John Cridland, makes no bones about his vision for prisons. "If the government now believes that prison is mainly about containing offenders, it should be up-front about that. But re-offending rates are already unacceptably high."
He goes on: "Punishment needs to go hand-in-hand with rehabilitation if the criminal justice system is really to work in the interests of all of us. Otherwise taxpayers will keep on paying for an endless merry-go-round of crime-court-custody."
The CBI calculates that crime is costing British Businesses £60bn and suggests the government should make getting prisoners back in to work a priority. It argues that ministers need to up their game considerably on reducing re-offending.
So what exactly does this somewhat left field move by CBI indicate? If crime costs business in lost labour and skills shortages should we be welcoming its contribution the criminal justice debate? In Society Guardian today the prisons minister, David Hanson, says he is "willing to listen to anyone with a legitimate view on penal policy." Maybe he should add the CBI to his list.
