Prisongate : the shocking state of Britain's prisons and the need for visionary change

Drugs and violence are rife in our filthy, overcrowded prisons.

Women and underage prisoners are treated badly by staff and other prisoners alike. 70 percent of prisoners suffer from a mental disorder, yet during their time in prison they are denied the services of the NHS, 65 percent of all adult prisoners have a reading age of less than eight, over 50 percent of all women prisoners have suffered sexual or physical abuse or both, most often from their families.

The Victorian approach to the prison service was punitative rather than rehabilitating.

Now that we understand that most prisoners are themselves victims of some sort that out-dated attitude must change.

The role of the Criminal Justice System in our society is to protect the public by preventing crime.

The prisons' role in this system is to prevent the next crime, or the next victim, by helping prisoners to lead useful and law-abiding lives both in their time in prison and afterwards.

Statistics show they are failing. The only government White Paper on the subject of imprisonment, published in the wake of serious riots in Manchester in 1991, has not been actioned.