Jim's Quality of Life OnLine

When are we going to get real value for the almost half a billion dollars we spend per annum keeping prisoners in jail in Victoria?

We need an incentive Education System - a system designed to provide the best education facilities, aimed particularly at giving the prisoners skills which will help them obtain future employment. Combined with this an incentive that a prisoner who passes various exams or acquires certain skills, will gain remission of part of his sentence by his hard work. About half of the prisoners have backgrounds of multiple and related serious disadvantage, including unemployment and homelessness.

If we set up the right system, it will not be long before employers are looking for "early release men" - knowing that they are going to get an employee who has been working hard to gain special employment skills.

These prisoners need our support and help to help them become useful citizens - instead of just re-offending and going back into jail which is the case so often today.

Get them educated and get them out as quick as possible.

Best Wishes,

Jim Vickers-Willis

You are invited to visit our web site at:
www.vickers-willis.com

What our Victorian prisons so urgently need is an incentive system.

The prisons cost Victorian taxpayers nearly half a billion dollars per year.

A huge number of these prisoners re-offend after release - and return to prison.

So what are we getting for our money and what could be done that would be much better?

The answer is we need the very best education facilities to be provided in our jails - education which will help them to get a job and build a future life.

We need to provide an incentive to encourage the prisoners to take advantage of the education to gain skills and become valuable employees.

Incentive could be a substantial cut in the prison term if they pass certain educational requirements.

Maybe then we will see some employers looking out for Early Release Men - knowing that they have worked for their release and have gained skills.

The present system, which encourages bludging, is ridiculous. It is costing us all a lot of money. Get them educated and get them out as soon as possible.

Your faithfully,



Jim Vickers-Willis
CEO- Quality Of Life Online

You are invited to visit our web site at:
www.vickers-willis.com

A Letter Jim Sent To:

Mr Martin Narey
Chief Executive
National Offender Management Service Home Office
LONDON

Dear Mr Narey,

I noted you say "but the main investment and the thing in which we have made most progress, has been investing in education".

Congratulations on your wonderful work - but so I believe you have completely missed the point which I and a group called The Quality of Life Association have been pushing for about 30 years.

What you need in the prisons is INCENTIVE.

In the last 35 years, in hundreds of interviews whilst writing a couple of books, it has been plain to see that, particularly for young people, example and incentive are the big factors.

If you look at the blog on our website www.vickers-willis.com (Prison Reform Archive) there is a short paragraph which covers this, which we have been plugging for years:

Put in the absolute best education facilities and give the prisoners an incentive - if they pass certain exams, or become skilled in some particular craft, or become adept with computers, programming etc, they get so much cut off their sentence. Make it a worthwhile cut in their sentence as - get them educated and get them out as quickly as possible. That might not please the money-making prison lobby in the USA in particular, but it's what we need.

As you say, education is the secret which can work: if you go about it properly, the problem of jobs for offenders will vanish: "early release men" will become known as the best computer operators, accountants, etc.

When I read about your efforts and new ideas it gives me hope - but you've got to get incentive into the system and then it will work much better.

With good wishes,

Jim Vickers-Willis

I have supported creating "incentive" in our jails; providing the best education facilities to encourage prisoners to work hard and study hard - with the incentive that, if they gain a Diploma or some other distinction, part of their sentence will be remitted. Get them rehabilitated and out of prison as quickly as possible.

What do you think about this?