Lord Timpson pushed for ex-offenders to get employment at his household’s Timpson chain whereas CEO – with round 10% of staff being former convicts – and beforehand chaired the Jail Reform Belief.
He stepped down from each roles when he turned a minister and peer after the final election.
Talking to the Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge, Lord Timpson was requested if parliament ought to “lead the way” by hiring extra ex-offenders.
Lord Timpson mentioned it was “a conversation” he was having throughout the entire public sector.
He mentioned that some departments – just like the Ministry of Justice – already employed “people with prison experience” in particular roles.
However he mentioned that some job roles are “not really right for those kinds of people” – including that in his 20 years within the non-public 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 talking to the Politics Hub as the federal government introduced a 10-year jail capability plan – together with plans “to build the 14,000 places the last government failed to deliver”.
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Jail house should still run out
Lord Timpson was requested about Reform UK MP James McMurdock, who was jailed 18 years in the past for repeatedly kicking his girlfriend, in response to courtroom paperwork.
The minister mentioned that whereas he didn’t find out about Mr McMurdock’s case specifically, “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 quantity of people that depart jail and go on to have implausible lives – they type loving relationships, they’ve jobs, they’re colleagues of yours, most likely, and mine.
“But there are too many people who are just re-offending and over and over again.”
Moms in prisons
One other space of the justice system Lord Timpson was requested about was moms who’ve kids whereas incarcerated – and whether or not the newborns ought to be inside jail partitions.
The peer shared a narrative from his youth, as his mom was a foster carer who used to take care of infants born by ladies in jail.
He mentioned: “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 is one thing I am, , I discover… It is a very advanced downside.
“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 mom and child 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 Ladies’s Justice Board is trying on the situation and extra work can be finished within the new 12 months.
The minister additionally says that 80% of ladies prisoners are in for non-violent offences, and loads “are victims themselves” and may have been “diverted” away from custody earlier on.
