Spent the morning in Brixton Prison. I was there for the launch of a new book on Restorative Justice. Prison is unremittingly grim. I know it is meant to be – but sometimes it is portrayed as barely different from our lives on the outside. That is so not the case – and I wish more people could be taken to see and feel the claustrophobia of and harshness of the environment where we incarcerate criminals. It’s no cakewalk.

As the hysteria between Tory and Labour crescendos towards locking up everyone and throwing away the key – to show who can be tougher – I am more and more convinced that we need to concentrate on what works; what is effective. The overflowing prisons and increasing rate of offending demonstrate incontrovertibly that the Government’s policies are not working. For all the headline grabbing toughness – it’s a load of baloney. They keep on preferring headline grabbing new laws to properly enforcing the ones that are already there. And the Home Office – after years and years in which Labour could have sorted it out – is still a mess. Whether it is prisoners walking out of prisons, sentences that mean nothing, probation not coping and people being lost track of – it has almost become farcical.

So whilst I am quite a toughie myself in terms of sentencing and enforcement – what I am completely clear about is the need to reduce offending and re-offending – and you can’t do that by simply locking people up. We certainly need to lock up those who might harm us – possibly permanently if the danger is severe. But we also need to make sure that those who will come out of prison one day come out in a state where they get a job, live a decent life and neither re-offend nor become a permanent burden to the tax payer. Otherwise – things ain’t going to get better.

Thus – restorative justice (which has long time been a Lib Dem theme) is now being heralded as one of the ways to do this. Making a criminal meet with the victim they have created can be a powerful step. It brings it home. It’s not easy on the victim – but there is a magic that happens (not for all but for some) when they are confronted with the harm they have done. For the first time the reality of the hurt gets through. And some are so affected that the work to make them change begins within themselves. I know – the dangers of being called soft etc – but I tell you – tough methods on their own do not work. The proof is in the criminal pudding. And the better results on pilots where restorative justice has been implemented are impressive.

So – an interesting morning. Walking away from the prison into the sunlight makes you realise how amazing it is to be free – and how close to hell being in prison actually can be.

Do a long interview with Politics Junkie – which is a website just as it says for the sad! Then a quick SI (Statutory Instrument). We are in agreement with this one – which adds bribery and corruption to the crimes that the Serious Organised Crime Agency can investigate.

Last gig for the day is to meet the other judges for the Guardian’s Public Services awards. These are to be judged in due course and a gala presentation next December. Bill Morris (Lord now) is one, and have enjoyable chat with him and several others. I find out what I will have to do. Apparently the judging will take place over a lunch – and the prizes awarded as I said in December. Luckily one of the judges who has done it previous years did mention that a very large box of paperwork will arrive prior to all of that. So there’s where the hard work will obviously have to be done! Anyway – absolutely delighted to be asked to do this as public services deserve more recognition – or rather the people and organisations that keep it all going. The voluntary sector is included – which is great as they often get left out – but they serve the public too.