One of my most unapologetically “woke” leftie beliefs, is that a huge number of people in prison shouldn’t be there. I’m talking about those who are mentally unwell, abused, suffering from traumatic brain injuries, addicted to drugs, coerced into crime, and criminally exploited; who need help and rehabilitation, rather than being thrown into the revolving door of perpetual punishment. Our carceral system is a regressive, medieval form of punishment, that doesn’t work: it only breeds criminality, rather than resolving it. As you’ll probably know – One of my heroes used to be a man called James Timpson. A man who built a thriving business hiring ex-prisoners, giving them an honest job, and another shot at life, by employing them to fix shoes and cut keys. After hiring more than 1,500 of such people, I can count how many returned to prison on one hand (4). These ex prisoners were desperate for a second chance, and Timpson gave it to them, turning over more than £200 million a year, and saving the Government billions (re-offending costs us 18 billion annually!) Timpson turned a lose-lose-lose, into a win-win-win, and fixed your shoes whilst he was at it. So when James became the U.K.’s Minister of Prisons in 2024, put in charge of the carceral system, it was something I could not have been more excited by. But oh, how I was wrong. In his short tenure in politics, the newly titled “Lord” James Timpson, crumbled, becoming yet another cowardly political stooge, seemingly more interested in votes, and virtue signaling, than in progressive, life-saving prison reform. And so the policy I dreamt of, this week, was announced, but not in the way I had hoped… Let’s take a look… ~ Witnessed / Experienced abuse https://tinyurl.com/ybztmwzn Mental Health Disorders https://tinyurl.com/mr3ekmc7 https://tinyurl.com/6drtwszx Traumatic brain injuries https://tinyurl.com/yxnc2u3x https://tinyurl.com/2uxjkcwx Reoffending rates https://tinyurl.com/5xpjsj98 Parents of dependent children https://tinyurl.com/dtkd2y5b Drug, alcohol, homelessness and suicide https://tinyurl.com/4k5asea3

2026-03-19