Conservative Party Conference 2011: we must tackle 'feral underclass', says Ken Clarke - Telegraph

Conservative Party Conference 2011: we must tackle 'feral underclass', says Ken Clarke - Telegraph

"In his speech to the Conservative Party Conference, Mr Clarke said jails should be ''places of retribution but also places of reform."

Mr Clarke said he was ''dramatically'' expanding the working prisons programme and welcomed the support of eight major companies, including Virgin and Marks & Spencer.

The Justice Secretary, who has faced claims he is soft on crime, told the gathering in Manchester: ''At Altcourse Prison near Liverpool, prisoners do 40 hours of hard work every week in a metal workshop.

''Part of their earnings goes to fund services for victims of crime and because these prisoners have got some skills, they are less likely - a lot less likely - to return to prison.

''So the burden on the taxpayer, on you and me, is less.

''I am in the process of expanding this working prisons programme quite dramatically.
''It's is not something Government can do alone, we need the private sector, socially responsible private partners, on board.''

High-profile business leaders including Sir Richard Branson and Marks & Spencer boss Marc Bolland called for more criminals to be given jobs in a bid to harness the talents of ''potential superstars'' in the prison population in a joint letter to the Financial Times.

Among the other signatories are Matthew Davies of Pets at Home, Steve Holliday of National Grid, Ian Sarson of Compass Group, James Reed of Reed Specialist Recruitment, Malcolm Walker of Iceland Foods and James Timpson from the family key cutting and shoe repair empire.

Mr Clarke said: ''The idea is to provide hard work in prison so that prisoners would be doing something productive, instead of doing nothing.

''Plotting a more honest future instead of planning their next crime, earning money to pay back to victims instead of dreaming of creating new victims through future crimes.''

Mr Clarke repeated his claim that a ''feral underclass'' was responsible for the rioting that spread through English cities this summer. "