Give ex-prisoners more money, says No 10 poverty unit

Prisoners should be given more cash on release from jail to stop them returning to crime, a government report suggested yesterday. The Social Exclusion Unit (SEU), set up by Tony Blair to tackle poverty, said public funds should be used to pay for enhanced discharge grants and increased housing benefit to keep ex-inmates out.

But officials were accused of watering down an earlier draft that called for freed prisoners' rent or mortgage to be paid for six months instead of 13 weeks, and specified discharge grants should rise from £40 to £100. Instead, yesterday's report recommended only "increasing the discharge grant".

Barbara Roche, the minister for Social Exclusion, said an exact amount was not being specified because it was "under discussion".

The report said all prisoners should be made to sign a "going straight contract" setting out what is expected of them in and out of jail. The report, Reducing Re-offending by Ex-Prisoners, had a mixed response from crime experts.

Bobby Cummines, of Unlock, the national association for ex-offenders, said the SEU had failed to address the root causes of reoffending such as the discrimination in the jobs market against people with a criminal record. "I am very disappointed that the report does not go further in tackling the real causes of crime; poor education, housing and employment prospects," he said. "I am fed up with puncture-repair kits. What's needed is a new tyre."

But Paul Cavadino, chief executive of crime reduction charity Nacro, said the plans could "make a real difference". He added: "If the Government does what the SEU recommended and establishes a national resettlement strategy dealing with accommodation, housing, education and rehabilitation, alongside heavily focused work on offending behaviour, these are the things that will reduce reoffending."

Ex-prisoners commit nearly one-fifth of all crime, costing victims and the country £11bn a year, the report says.Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust, said prisoners were more likely to offend when they were released than before they entered system.

In the "going straight" contracts, the SEU backs individually tailored rehabilitation packages and personal case managers for each inmate from the day they are sentenced. Benefit advice, secure housing and links with employers or jobcentres should be arranged before release. Prisoners should pay from prison wages into a reparation fund for crime victims and a fund for their rehabilitation, which could be withheld after release if prisoners did not meet the terms of their going straight contract.

A Home Office study yesterday showed 71 per cent of homeless prisoners in the last three weeks of their sentence had no help from prison officials to find accommodation. But 24 per cent of those about to be released had offers of paid employment, compared with 10 per cent in a survey 10 years ago.