§ Lord Aveburyasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they consider that using the availability of reading material to prisoners as part of the incentives and earned privileges scheme results in better or more co-operative behaviour by life sentence prisoners; what are the objectives of this scheme; and what measurements of its achievements have been undertaken. [HL2468]
§ Lord Williams of MostynThe incentives and earned privileges scheme allows prisoners to spend more of their own money on personal items, including books, when they move to higher privilege levels. But prisoners, including life sentence prisoners, have access to a wide range of books and other reading material from a variety of sources and local incentives and earned privileges schemes would not normally restrict this significantly.
The national framework for incentives and earned privileges aims to:
Schemes are firmly established and generally working well. However, an overall evaluation of policy is under way.
- (a) provide that privileges generally are earned by prisoners through good behaviour and performance and are removable if prisoners fail to maintain acceptable standards;
- (b) encourage responsible behaviour by prisoners;
- (c) encourage hard work and other constructive activity by prisoners;
- (d) encourage sentenced prisoners' progress through the prison system;
WA 126 - (e) create a more disciplined, better controlled and safer environment for prisoners and staff.