'Prisoners working in jails is like lunatics taking over the asylum'
This newspaper has always backed measures to rehabilitate offenders.
Meaningful work for ex-prisoners provided by the likes of Timpson and McDonald’s is the best way to keep them from ending up behind bars again. But we stop short of giving former cons jobs on the prison estate, no matter how understaffed the Tories have left it.
They are to get starting salaries of £26,500 year to undertake such work as security checks, overseeing visitors and escorting outside contractors. The argument for hiring them is that they know better than anyone what life is like inside prison. But we come down on the side of the argument against it by the Prison Officers Association, which compared it to lunatics taking over the asylum.
And following terror suspect Daniel Khalife’s embarrassing escape from Wandsworth, possibly with inside help, the priority should be employing more properly trained prison officers not more lags. Entrusting them with sensitive duties would be like outsourcing House of Commons security vetting to China. Which is why this plan should be locked away and never see the light of day.
Fair meal deal
Hats off to Denise Welch for launching a campaign to ensure children have enough to eat. Although Hope Not Hunger will begin in Denise’s native North East, the Loose Women star wants to see it taken up nationally. With 800,000 youngsters now living in families forced to rely on food banks, there is no better time for a new Child Poverty Strategy, upping Universal Credit by £15 for each child, ending insecure work and cutting the cost of childcare.
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Free breakfast clubs and plans to make school uniforms more affordable – as proposed by Labour – are a start in the right direction. But the goal must be a fair deal and a square meal for every child. Only when that has been achieved will hope have finally triumphed over hunger.
Fish or foul?
Scotland’s salmon industry is in a flap over plans by an Austrian firm to produce a 3D-printed vegan version of their prized export in the lab. But with two British food chains already interested in stocking the fake fish, industry body Scottish Salmon may just have to swallow it. And, you never know, if they gave it a try they might be hooked.
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