The appointment of James Timpson as prisons minister augurs well for future reform of the prison system but he will need backing

The appointment of James Timpson as the new Prisons, Parole and Probation minister comes as a breath of fresh air to the beleaguered sector. He gets it. A person who talks sense, rather than the Victorian age based platitudes focusing on retribution and revenge. In an early interview, Timpson said that one third of the 85,000 prisoners should be there, another one third probably shouldn't. This group need other state support and lots have massive mental health problems. A final third, mainly women, shouldn't be in prison at all. It is a disaster putting them back in the offending cycle. Timpson is the first minster to talk such sense, since Ken Clarke tried to reform the prison system, as part of the Coalition Government in 2010. Clarke was arguing the case from a cost angle and was quickly shot down by the right wing hang em and flog em brigade. He was also not backed by Prime Minister David Cameron. The truth is to paraphrase a mantra from a previous Conservative Home Secretary (Michael Howard) prison does not work. The overcrowded prison system in this country is more a university of crime if anything. People go in and learn more criminal skills. Many come out, better criminals, with more contacts to resume a life of crime. Reoffending rates are upwards of 25%. Other countries have proved that there are better ways of dealing with criminals, notably serving closely supervised sentences in the community. Prisons can have a role if properly run, with an emphasis on education and rehabilitation. Overcrowded prisons, though, make things worse for inmates and staff. They amount to human storage centres ready to explode at any moment. Previous Conservative governments have made matters worse. First, failing to invest in the system. Timpson knows the area well as former chair of the Prison Reform Trust. His family business, Timpsons, is ofcourse also famed for employing former prisoners. If he succeeds, then the government could be knocking prisons down or repurposing them. He will though need strong backing, particularly when the right wing media comes baying for blood. As a lawyer and former Director of Public Prosecutions, Prime Minister Keir Starmer knows the criminal justice system well. This is no doubt why he has made such an astute appointment in Timpson but Starmer will need to keep his nerve if the crime and punishment sector is to get the genuine reforms it needs to be fit for purpose in the 21st century.