UK prisons are a shambles

5.02.39pm BST (GMT +0100) Fri 2nd Sep 2005

Mark Oaten, Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary, has told Radio 4's Today programme that Britain's prison system is a shambles with suicides, widespread drug-taking and half of inmates re-offending on release; and that the problems of prisons had to be addressed if Britain was to get crime under control.

Mr. Oaten "You have a re-offending rate of over half of prisoners, you have suicides taking place in our prisons, drugs widely available and an appalling lack of education and training. Something must be done because if we are going to tackle crime in this country, what better way than actually stopping people who are already in prison actually coming out and committing more crimes? That means major investment in education and training and a complete rethink about the kind of people we send to prison in the first place."