Crime pays for lags working behind bars

KEELEY KNOWLES

The figures, released under the Freedom of Information Act, reveal that the money was paid out to those serving at HMP Bedford between December 2008 and November last year.

Under Prison Rule 31, prisoners are required to work if it is available to them and they receive payment for it.

Around 390 prisoners at HMP Bedford are currently ‘employed’ at the prison.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said that the purpose of paying prisoners was to encourage and reward their ‘constructive participation’.

Although the Prison Service sets minimum rates of pay, individual jails set their own rates for particular industries and work.

The type of jobs given to those at HMP Bedford include:

• A part-time menu worker who goes round the wing ensuring that specific dietary needs are met

•  A wing barber responsible for cutting other prisoners’ hair

•  A wing painter – a prisoner with previous skills or qualifications in painting who ensures the wing and cells are kept in an acceptable condition

•  Laundry worker – manages the laundry for the wings.

Prisoners are also paid to attend educational courses and other approved activities such as offender behaviour schemes.

Higher rates of pay are available in some workshops in return for higher productivity.

The most earned by one prisoner during the year was £38.50 to a kitchen worker and the least earned was £2.50 a week which is paid to individuals who are willing to work but when there was no suitable work available.

The average weekly wage earned by prisoners is £10.41.

In a report by the Independent Monitoring Board published last year, it stated that the annual average inmate earning rate at HMP Bedford was ‘generous’ compared to other prisons