Our violent and squalid prisons need a dose of Victorian reform

This morning the new Justice Secretary, David Gauke, delivered one of those keynote speeches about prisons. You know the sort: half an hour in front of a crowd of ‘stakeholders’ at a convenient London location. It’s increasingly hard to take such occasions seriously. Not only are we on the sixth justice secretary since 2010 – meaning it will be a miracle if Gauke is in post in 12 or 18 months’ time – but it’s only 78 days since the last newly appointed one, David Lidington, gave his own keynote speech about prison reform. When ministers are sentenced to a spell at the Ministry of Justice, they know they’ll be out before long. To the department’s civil servants, the phrase ‘a here-today, gone-tomorrow politician’ is not an insult but a bland statement of fact.

Overall, Gauke was disappointing. There were a few very strong passages in the speech – notably on the impact of ‘spice’ and other drugs on prisoners which, he said, now arrive ‘Deliveroo-style’ to their cells.