Myself and John Stevenson MP for Carlisle are guests of Gerry Foley at 11.30pm this evening. In my section I am debating with the Labour Prisons Minister, Jenny Chapman. I hope she accepts that there is evidence that we need to address literacy and drug abuse in prisons, and that the government plan to have mentors working with released prisoners is a good idea. It seems madness that for years we have literally discharged prisoners at the end of their sentence with little or no support - my view is that mentors are a good thing. There is copious evidence in my book, and in the book of former Prison Governor, John Podmore, which is called Out of Sight Out of Mind, and in the Centre for Social Justice Report:
http://www.centreforsocialjustice.org.uk/client/downloads/CSJLockedUpPotentialFULLrEPORT.pdf
