No 10 slaps down justice minister
By politics.co.uk staff
Justice minister Crispin Blunt has been humiliatingly overruled by Downing Street in his bid to reintroduce art activities in jail.
The practise, which showed considerable success in rehabilitation according to some research projects, was scrapped by then-justice secretary Jack Straw two years ago following a tabloid row over a vampire party in a women’s prison.
Mr Blunt wanted to reintroduce programmes which include comedy nights and fancy dress workshops.
He branded the ban “deleterious, damaging and daft” and pledged to rescind it.
In a speech to crime reduction charity Nacro yesterday, Mr Blunt said: “We recognise that arts activities can play a valuable role in helping offenders to address issues such as communication problems and low self-esteem and enabling them to engage in programmes that address their offending behaviour.”
This morning Downing Street put a stop to the move.
“Number 10 has instructed the Ministry of Justice to make it clear that there will be no prison parties,” a spokesperson said.
“I understand the Ministry of Justice guidance to prison governors doesn’t quite give carte blanche to such parties, but we just want to make it clear to the public there will be no such parties.”
