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<p>We are committed to ensuring prisons are places where offenders can turn their
backs on crime – reducing reoffending and keeping the public safe. In order for prisons
to enable rehabilitation, they must first be places of safety and so we are taking
urgent action to improve prison safety and security, alongside reforms to overhaul
the system to focus on the rehabilitation of offenders.</p><p> </p><p>We have invested
£70 million to improve safety, security and decency in prisons, allowing us to fund
new security scanners, improved searching techniques, phone-blocking technology and
a financial crime unit to target criminals operating in prisons. Alongside this, we
have taken immediate action to strengthen the frontline with over 4,700 new prison
officers.</p><p> </p><p>To reduce reoffending, we are implementing a cohesive plan
to ensure offenders receive the right interventions to meet their individual needs.
This includes investing £7 million in in-cell telephones to allow prisoners to maintain
important family ties, and tackling health issues such as drug addiction through our
drugs strategy.</p><p> </p><p>We want to ensure that everyone leaving prison has access
to a secure job and stable accommodation. Last year we launched the Education and
Employment strategy to ensure offenders are set on a path to employment from the outset.
Governors now have control to commission education provision that leads to work and
we are engaging with employers to take on prisoners on ROTL or after release via the
New Futures Network, which has had more than 230 businesses register to work with
prisons since its launch. We also recently made changes so that Governors can now
consider Release on Temporary Licence (ROTL) earlier and in more cases to enable prisoners
to enter the workplace sooner.</p><p> </p><p>Through the Government’s Rough Sleeping
Strategy we have invested £6 million in pilot schemes bringing together prisons, local
authorities, probation providers to help offenders find accommodation on release.</p>
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