Country diary Plain sailing into the record books Planet Barton Room to improve In the 1990s, Michael Howard's hardline 'prison works' policy left the jail system overstretched, underfunded and in disarray. The director-general of the prison service, Martin Narey, has also presided over the first real attempt to root out corruption and brutality. According to the latest count, some 99 prison officers are currently suspended pending investigations.
Racism is finally on the agenda.
Perhaps even more importantly, after the stormy battles between Michael Howard and his prisons chief, Derek Lewis, the service has been enjoying a period of stability, first under Richard Tilt and now under Narey. As ever, there is no shortage of critics of the system. Frances Crook, director of the Howard League for Penal Reform, concedes that Straw's watch has seen an improvement but is still disappointed. There are too many people in the system for a start. And nobody knows what it's for.