Prison drug kingpins will have their assets seized in a new crackdown on violence in jails, the Justice Secretary said today.
David Gauke said the Government was acting to stop a tidal wave of drugs and violence that has left jails in England and Wales in chaos.
Mr Gauke also set out plans to spend £5million on a ‘secure school’ for young offenders as part of a new rehabilitation programme.
He told the Tory conference in Birmingham the most important thing was to stop reoffending to help the victims of crime.
David Gauke (pictured at Tory conference today) said the Government was acting to stop a tidal wave of drugs and violence that has left jails in England and Wales in chaos
Mr Gauke said: ‘My message to kingpins is this: we are already blocking your phones, putting you in isolation and now we will make sure you can’t access your money.
‘Dealing drugs in prison will no longer be profitable because we will find your assets and we will seize them.’
The new financial crime unit, which will be based in Peterborough, will probe how bank accounts are being used to pay for drugs in prison and track down the criminals linked to them.
It will have the power to close accounts and freeze assets as well as make arrests.
Meanwhile, more prisoners will be given training to help them get into work once they are released and £5 million will be put into creating the first secure school to improve the education of young offenders, he will say.
‘Getting prisoners rehabilitated will reduce crime and ensure there are fewer victims of crime in future. It will also cut the £15 billion cost that reoffending has on society,’ Mr Gauke will say.
‘We know that offenders are far less likely to reoffend if they have a job. That is why I launched the Education and Employment strategy, which will expand opportunities for offenders to get education and skills training, and work experience so they can get a job when they get out.’
Today’s announcement comes weeks after Birmingham’s prison (pictured) was taken out of private hands following a collapse in discipline
Today’s announcement comes weeks after Birmingham’s prison was taken out of private hands following a collapse in discipline.
After a damning report by inspectors, Prisons minister Rory Stewart admitted as many as 20 jails are gripped by drugs and violence.
Thousands of prison officers walked out for six hours last month in a protest at ‘unprecedented violence’ in British jails.
Shadow justice secretary Richard Burgon said: ‘These measures fall way short of what is needed to tackle the emergency in our prisons.
‘Our prisons are facing an unprecedented wave of violence due to Conservative cuts to budgets and staffing levels.
‘The Government needs to go much further than these wholly inadequate measures. It should launch an emergency action plan with substantial new Treasury funds to make our prisons safe for both staff and inmates.’