Up to £1 million a year will be taken from prisoners’ wages to support victims of crime, ministers have said. The Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke, as part of his rehabilitation revolution, has said about 500 inmates who work outside prisons will see their take-home pay cut by up to 40% and used to help support victims.

You can read the Ministry of Justice press release here.

‘For too long the financial burden of repairing the damage done by crime has fallen to the taxpayer alone,’ said the Minister for Policing and Criminal Justice, Nick Herbert. ‘By bringing into force the Prisoners’ Earnings Act, this Government is making a significant and overdue change. ‘Making offenders pay financial reparation to victims will require them to take personal responsibility for their crimes and go some way towards making redress to victims through the funding of crucial support services.’

You can read Matt Evans’ thoughts here