Prisons minister Lord James Timpson has told Sky News that he is having “a conversation” with parliament and the public sector about hiring more ex-convicts.
Lord Timpson pushed for ex-offenders to get employment at his family’s Timpson chain while CEO – with around 10% of employees being former convicts – and previously chaired the Prison Reform Trust.
He stepped down from both roles when he became a minister and peer after the last election.
Speaking to the Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge, Lord Timpson was asked if parliament should “lead the way” by hiring more ex-offenders.
Lord Timpson said it was “a conversation” he was having across the whole public sector.
He said that some departments – like the Ministry of Justice – already hired “people with prison experience” in specific roles.
But he said that some job roles are “not really right for those kinds of people” – adding that in his 20 years in the private sector, hiring former prisoners “hasn’t always gone right”.
He added: “Over time, we learnt that when you find the right people at the right time in their life, they can make really good colleagues and turn their life around.”
Lord Timpson was speaking to the Politics Hub as the government announced a 10-year prison capacity plan – including plans “to build the 14,000 places the last government failed to deliver”.
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Prison space may still run out
The minister told Sky News that while rehabilitation and reducing reoffending were important, the UK still needed more prison places.
Lord Timpson was asked about Reform UK MP James McMurdock, who was jailed 18 years ago for repeatedly kicking his girlfriend, according to court documents.
The minister said that while he did not know about Mr McMurdock’s case in particular, “what I do know is that when prisons work well, they can rehabilitate people”.
He added: “It’s not just about what the prison can do, it’s what the offenders can do themselves.
“And the number of people who leave prison and go on to have fantastic lives – they form loving relationships, they have jobs, they’re colleagues of yours, probably, and mine.
“But there are too many people who are just re-offending and over and over again.”
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Mothers in prisons
Another area of the justice system Lord Timpson was asked about was mothers who have children while incarcerated – and whether the newborns should be inside prison walls.
The peer shared a story from his youth, as his mother was a foster carer who used to look after babies born by women in prison.
He said: “I used to spend a lot of time sitting outside Styal Women’s Prison while my mum took the babies in on a visit.
“So it’s something I’m, you know, I find… It’s a very complex problem.
“The fact is that the best place for a baby is with their mother, but, unfortunately, when their mother is in prison, it causes lots of problems.”
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Lord Timpson says he has visited mother and baby prisons, and there are “amazing volunteers” that take the newborns out “for a couple of days a week so they get used to normal life”.
“There are a small number of babies in prison with their mothers,” he added – and says the Women’s Justice Board is looking at the issue and more work will be done in the new year.
The minister also says that 80% of women prisoners are in for non-violent offences, and a lot “are victims themselves” and should have been “diverted” away from custody earlier on.