Recent disturbances in British prisons – thankfully quelled without too much extra violence – may be interpreted as protests at a severe crisis in the entire system rather than just as outbreaks of lawless anarchy. Another sign of the same crisis is the rise in suicides and self-harm to record levels, figures which the Catholic bishop responsible for prison ministry, Bishop Richard Moth of Arundel and Brighton, rightly called “shocking”.

This is a crisis with several causes. As part of government austerity cuts, the budget of the Justice Ministry, which runs the prison system, was recklessly slashed until the number of prison officers fell by about 30 per cent. This was during a period when the total number of prisoners went up year on year to its present record level, which represents 98 per cent of its maximum capacity in England and Wales – the position in Scotland is not dissimilar. One consequence was that the job of prison officer became so unattractive that efforts to correct the shortfall by a recruitment drive, following the belated recognition that the cuts had gone too far, were a dismal failure.