TORIES SIMPLISTIC APPROACH TO PRISONS TOTALLY INEFFECTIVE - BURT

4.40.53pm GMT Wed 3rd Oct 2007

Commenting on today's announcement by the Conservatives that they intend to build more prisons, West Worcestershire's Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate, Richard Burt said:

"The Tory response to prison overcrowding is characteristically simplistic.

"Simply building more prison places, which will be filled to capacity within months, will not address the real causes of the crisis in our prison system and the high levels of re-offending.

"If the Conservatives were serious about cutting crime they would propose mental health treatment centres for prisoners with mental illness and proper access to treatment for those with drug dependency.

"Offenders clogging up the prison system serving sentences of less than three months, which all the evidences shows to be totally ineffective, should be given tougher sentences outside of prison.

"Prison is simply a revolving door for far too many offenders. We have to break the cycle of re-offending to help people move on to responsible citizenship, not build more prisons."