PRISON reformers have welcomed the appointment of businessman James Timpson as the new prisons minister.

Andrea Coomber, chief executive at the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: “For more than 20 years, James has been visiting prisons and recruiting prison leavers. 

“Having seen the system up close, James understands that prisons currently are unable to rehabilitate or hold safely and decently the huge numbers of people within them.

“He understands that an urgent review of population numbers and of sentencing is long overdue. 

“We look forward to sound, evidence-led policy from the new government, that prioritises rehabilitation, productive sentences, and the use of prison only where absolutely necessary.”

Prison Officers Association general secretary Steve Gillan said he was “glad that the Prime Minister has recognised the prison system is broken and tough decisions need to be made.”

Mr Timpson, who runs the shoes-and-keys family business of that name, was chairman of the Prison Reform Trust until his appointment to government.

He has a record of employing ex-prisoners and of working for a reduction in the prison population, an urgent issue facing the new government since existing prisons are full to bursting.