Prisons are about to get tougher, with new punishments being put in place to make inmates pay for their crimes, a press statement by the UK government said.
Under the new rules, which the state’s prison governors are creating, offenders will have to perform community service such as repairing broken items, clearing shared or disused spaces, and litter picking as payback punishment, and those who refuse could have their prison work earnings blocked or privileges forfeited.
These new punishments will only be for minor infractions, while the more serious crimes of sexual assault or selling drugs will still be severely dealt with as earlier. These new punishments are inspired by community payback schemes that are already in place such as forcing offenders to clean up graffiti to make amends for crimes.
“Unruly behaviour is not tolerated, and these new punishments will help force prisoners to realise their disruptive actions have tough consequences,” said UK Prisons and Probation Minister Ed Argar.