Ministry of Justice planning to run call centres from inside prisons as marketing email boasts of a 'rehabilitation revolution'
Shiv Malik
The Ministry of Justice is planning to set up call centres inside jails as part of its work programme for prisoners, according to documents promoting the scheme.
Details of the plans have emerged after marketing material from an MoJ- supported company, which described the call centre scheme as a "rehabilitation revolution", were passed to the Guardian.
The MoJ stressed that the company, UrbanData Ltd, was no longer involved in the programme as it had filed for liquidation this month but the department confirmed they are still interested in setting up call centres from inside the prison estate as part of their programme for expanding ONE3ONE Solutions, formerly known as the Prison Industries Unit.
In a leaflet sent out to various organisations late last year, UrbanData said it could offer "lower costs and overheads" if businesses signed up.
"The opportunity for your organisation is a higher corporate responsibility profile by engaging in a high-profile initiative supported by the Ministry of Justice, lower costs and overheads for trained contract centre agents, flexible resources that can deal with overflow calls and specific projects, all dedicated to growing and supporting your business," the leaflet read.
Advertising the scheme as a "fantastic rehabilitation revolution" the flyer added that prison-run call centres could offer trained operators "with British Regional [sic] accents as an effective alternative to off shoring operations". A marketing email sent with the flyer confirmed the plans to get prisoners to work manning phones were backed by the government.
"Working in partnership with the Ministry of Justice, we are establishing call centres inside prisons," it said.
"We are training prisoners to become qualified contact centre operators. This gives them employment during their prison term and also prepares them for a more productive life when they return home," the email said.
The Prison Industries Unit which was rebranded as ONE3ONE Solutions after the 131 prisons in the prison estate, has used inmates to make uniforms and office and garden furniture or package headphones for companies such as DHL and Virgin.
However putting call centres inside prisons would be one of the first instances of prisoners serving lengthy sentences coming into direct commercial contact with the public. The idea is already established in the US.
It follows revelations that prisoners from open jails in Wales were being paid just £3 a day to work in private call centres outside of prison walls.
It is unclear how much prisoners would be paid at call centres inside prisons but under current rules prisoners on "work experience" are paid £3 a day, with no set maximum to the work experience period.
The MoJ said there were varying levels of pay for those working inside prisons with the lowest being around £3 a day.
In a ONE3ONE prospectus, David Cameron urged businesses to take advantage of the opportunity working prisoners offered. "Prisoners working productively towards their own rehabilitation will contribute to the UK economy and make reparation to society," he wrote.
"Many businesses, large and small, already make use of prison workshops to produce high quality goods and services and do so profitably. They are not only investing in prisons but in the future of their companies and the country as a whole. I urge others to follow their lead and seize the opportunity that working prisons offer."
Sandra Busby from the Welsh Contact Centre Forum said she did not think such a scheme would undermine her members' interests but was worried about them complying with data protection and Ofcom legislation. "There's a lot of legislation you've got to be very, very careful about," she said.
An MoJ spokesperson said, "Prisoners who learn the habit of real work inside prison are less likely to commit further crime when they are released. For that reason the Prisons Service is looking at a number of potential schemes to increase work opportunities in prisons.
"All contracts with outside employers must comply with a strict code of practice which sets out that prisoners cannot be used to replace existing jobs in the community. Prisoner wages, for those in closed prisons, are set by prison governors and companies have no control over the level of payment."
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