'The system is not working': LIZ TRUSS on the 'most far-reaching reform of our prison system for a generation' 

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Liz Truss will say in a speech today that prisons 'must be places of discipline, hard work and self-improvement'

For my parents’ generation, picking a good school for their child amounted to a combination of word-of-mouth and plain pot luck. 

It would be unthinkable now, but in the 1970’s and 1980’s there was no National Curriculum, no Ofsted and no league tables for parents to make informed choices. 

There was no real way of knowing whether your local school was getting the best results from its pupils or churning out a generation for the dole queue.

In almost every sector of public service, putting the spotlight on performance and publishing the findings, has produced widespread improvements in results. 

Our prisons are the last truly unreformed public service.

Of course prisons are not schools and the vast majority of us will never walk through the gates or spend time behind their high walls.

However as a society we should be deeply troubled that we don’t know how many offenders are just marking time in jail and how many are working hard to turn their lives around. 

What is clear is that the system is not working. Almost half of offenders commit another crime within a year of release – at a staggering £15bn annual cost to society. That is the equivalent of a £630 for every household in England and Wales.

The human cost is incalculable. As a society we have got much better at intervening and stopping people turning to a life of crime.

However our reoffending rates have remained too high for too long and that has got to change.

Of course the main purpose of prisons is punishment – depriving criminals of their most fundamental right, freedom.

However prisons have a vital role to play in cutting reoffending and helping reduce crime in our communities and I want to hold them to account for that. 

The change will be led by governors, cut free from Whitehall micro-management – they get control over health, education and training budgets.

For the first time governors will be held to account through a rigorous set of standards and new league tables which will show how well each prison is doing in getting prisoners off drugs and into work. 

This will highlight success, lay bare failure and drive improvement across the system.

For the first time, the Secretary of State will have a legal duty to intervene when prisons are judged to be failing – turning prisons where offenders are left to fester into places of discipline, hard work and self-improvement. For these reforms to take hold, we must address safety in our prisons.

Statistics published last week showed a staggering 43 percent increase on assaults against our dedicated prison officer. Shocking incidents of self-harm and self-inflicted deaths are also increasing.

Ms Truss, pictured inside Brixton Prison with its governor, said British prisons were failing and needed a shake-up

Prisons such as Brixton, pictured, will also become no-fly zones to stop drones being flown into jails to supply inmates with drugs 

We are facing new and challenging threats to our prisons – from drones flying in weapons, to synthetic drugs making offenders volatile and lethally strong. 

The abuse of these dangerous new drugs has been described by experts as a ‘game-changer’ for prisons.

So we are introducing a range of new measures to combat the flood of psychoactive drugs that fuel violence and thwart reform, to block drones and illegal phones in our jails and to strengthen the frontline with 2,500 more officers.

I am embarking on the most far-reaching reform of our prison system for a generation – closing old, dilapidated prisons and replacing them with modern facilities, investing in front-line prison officers; giving governors the authority they need to drive forward reform and, for the first time, holding prisons to account for what they do – reforming offenders.

We will not see results overnight but, as our White Paper proposals take hold, our stubbornly high reoffending rates will come down and society will be safer still. Only then will we be able to our prisons are working.