I was encouraged to see the justice secretary pledging this week to double the number of prisoners who work.
Currently, 10,000 prisoners are employed in one way or another, earning a modest salary.
It has long been a concern of mine, and many others, that offenders are locked up with little to do except watch television.
This enforced idleness is neither good for the prisoner nor society as a whole.
Regrettably, the number of prisons which do teach skills like welding, mechanics, construction and printing are few due to overcrowding.
But where they do, it works.
There is already evidence that 60 per cent of inmates released from these ‘working prisons’ go on to further education or full time jobs.
This stands in stark contrast to the national average of 40 per cent, with half of former inmates re-offending within a year.
On Portland, Russ Trent, the dynamic, new governor at the Young Offenders’ Institution (YOI) has grasped this work ethic enthusiastically, giving the young men there a sense of purpose.
Several mentoring schemes and a working relationship with the Parachute Regiment are showing positive results.
Combined with vocational and educational courses, these initiatives offer prisoners an opportunity when they are released.
However, Mr Trent makes an excellent point when he states that prisoners’ physical and mental health must be a priority.
No one will benefit from training or education if they remain hooked on drugs and alcohol.
This is an area where I believe a lot more work needs to be done.
Detoxification is the only answer and, yes, this will need money and resources but keeping prisoners on a heroin substitute until they are released is simply unacceptable, in my view.
We must not encourage any system which perpetuates the problem.
We need our ex offenders to be ready and able to rejoin society as givers, not takers.