“Locking up more people is not seen by the public as doing much to reduce crime,” says Ben Page, Chief Executive of Ipsos MORI, who regularly poll the public.

The panel included Lord McNally, Minister of State for Justice, Juliet Lyon of the Prison Reform Trust, and Dr Mary Harris, the Director of the Young Offender Programme led by National Grid amd chair Duncan Greenland from CentreForum.

All of the speakers agreed that penal reform must take place – the current prison system is not working and research has shown that the general public would support a shake-up of the status quo.

Listen to the podcast below: