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.