Riots aftermath

IT may turn out that Kenneth Clarke's long and distinguished service as a Conservative minister is about to reach its finest hour. Writing in The Guardian yesterday he got very near saying that a major cause of the recent riots in England was not only David Cameron's “broken society” but also society's “broken penal system -- one whose record in preventing reoffending has been straightforwardly dreadful”. He backed up this assertion by revealing that almost three-quarters of those over 18 charged with riot offences already had a prior conviction.

Anyone with any knowledge of Britain's prison system knows that it is very bad at returning its temporary residents to the outside world with an even chance of avoiding an early return for re-offending. Mr Clarke's statistics following the riots drives that point home very forcibly. He calls for widespread reform to stop the waste of money, resources and, above all, of the lives of human beings which the present system almost guarantees. Such reforms cannot be achieved without considerable investment in buildings, training of staff and other measures but would be an economy in the long run. Mr Clarke's views will not be liked by those who believe in hard prison sentences without “human rights frills”. But he is now in a position to introduce reforms that have long been recognised as necessary though seldom implemented.