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  1. Politics
23 August 2013updated 26 Sep 2015 12:01pm

Outsourcing, the exploitation of prisoners and my Twitter ruck with G4S

Hang on. If G4S aren't employing prisoners at £5 a day in order to boost their profits - then who is?

By Alan White

To Twitter, then, for an entertaining spat: something of an occupational hazard for a New Statesman writer these days. 

Said spat wasn’t, for a pleasing change, the subject of my privilege and platform. I was bemoaning the furious assaults I have suffered from a “certain strand” of Twitter users over this issue to my valet only the other day. Suffice to say his advice – go and write for a proper publication like the Telegraph or Spectator because their writers receive far less grief from the unwashed internet masses – nearly made me choke on my swan. Everyone knows socialists have the best champagne.

Anyway, I was struck by a discussion between Nicola Savage, Head of Press for G4S, and Frances Crook, of the Howard League for Penal Reform. Ms Crook was outraged by a story that appeared in this week’s Daily Mail. If I may quote from Mr Dacre’s excellent organ:

Prisoners are earning £20 a week phoning householders and quizzing them about their valuables.

Burglars and other criminals are asking unsuspecting families if they would like to save money on their home insurance.

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The inmates get paid to read from a script which includes asking potential customers their names and postcodes.

They also inquire about the total value of their possessions – including details of any worth large sums.

Golly. As Ms Crook put it: 

Ms Savage responded:

This went on for a while. I, separately, provided a link to the discussion, which was spotted by Ms Savage, who corrected me on a crucial detail.

And lo. Alan was in the soup, without a paddle.

There was nothing to do but beat a hasty retreat. Except – hang on. If G4S aren’t employing prisoners at £5 a day in order to boost their profits – then who is? The news reports cited “insurance companies” (Ms Savage would later clarify that it’s a “consumer lifestyle survey”, whatever that is, too), but didn’t name them. Who are they? I asked a question to which I already knew the answer:

You’ll note the perhaps overly aggressive use of the “.@” there: in my frayed mental state I had broken one of my esteemed editor’s rules of Twitter. On such issues she is as Debrett’s. I fear she will be gently upbraiding me in Beach Blanket Babylon this evening.

Needless to say: the silence from Ms Savage was germane. Perhaps you feel this is a shameful exploitation of society’s vulnerable to fill the pockets of greedy companies. Perhaps you feel it’s a positive attempt to prepare our prisoners for the world of work. The point is that you should have a right to know which companies are making use of what’s essentially a Government scheme, and commend, upbraid, boycott or whatever you feel is the appropriate response to them. But you can’t. It’s the outsourcing process in a nutshell. It lacks transparency, and that means it looks like it stinks, even if it doesn’t.

To the Garrick. Enjoy your weekend.

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