London, Oct 5 (IANS) Prisoners in Britain will be forced to work full-time to pay compensation to their victims, a media report said Tuesday.
The veteran Tory cabinet minister, Justice Secretary Ken Clarke wants to instil a tough working regime for ‘idle’ convicts who spend their days lounging around jail, express.co.uk reported.
Prisoners will work a 40-hour week -recycling, computer processing and furniture making. If they refuse, they will lose their privileges.
The tough regime is being drawn up to give repeat offenders a work ethic — so they don’t go back to a life of crime.
Prisoners would get the 5.93-pound minimum wage but it would be paid to them over a period of time after their release.
It means prisoners could earn almost 240 pounds a week.
Around one fifth of their earnings would go towards helping victims.
If, as expected, around 50,000 prisoners are made to work, 120-million pound would be paid to victims every year.
