Is the postponement of Custody Plus going to affect those aims of making community based punishment more effective?
HE: We are keeping Custody Plus under review. It would have been wrong to introduce it at a point when it would have added significantly to the demands on our services. There is also a more fundamental issue. If we introduce Custody Plus, and have more people under supervision who break the terms of that supervision, then we shall simply recycle more people into prison. It is part and parcel of the same issue, how we work with offenders in the community to prevent their re-offending. At present we are simply not being successful enough, which is why we need significant reform and why offender management matters so much. JB: Are issues of social exclusion, including racism, important issues for NOMS and how are you going about trying to address those issues? HE: They are both extremely important issues for NOMS. I was very pleased some years ago when the Social Exclusion Unit did its report on ex-prisoners because it located the issue very much in terms of social exclusion. You only hav
