THE MP for Central Devon paid a visit to Dartmoor Prison to find out about the education and rehabilitation pro-grammes available to its prisoners.

Mel Stride MP was shown around the facility on November 14 and met the prison's governor, Terry Witton, and learnt about the efforts being made at the prison to reduce re-offending rates.

Working closely with the 'String of Pearls' charity — an organisation dedicated to helping the families of those in prison — Mr Stride has argued for better mentoring of prisoners to reduce the risk of re-offending. In July this year he hosted a Commons debate on the issue.

Mr Stride said: 'Prisons quite rightly are used to protect the public and to punish those who break our laws, but they must also be a place where every effort is made to turn the lives of offenders around. I will continue to work in Parliament to ensure that training and rehabilitation are at the top of our criminal justice agenda.'

Steven Phillips, head of reducing re-offending at Her Majesty's Inspect-orate of Prisoners, who joined Mel on his visit, added: 'It is vital that re-offending rates across the country are cut to reduce the prevalence of crime and many of the new techniques we have seen implemented are greatly helping this endeavour.'

Dartmoor Prison is one of three in Devon and holds 659 Category C male inmates — those who have committed reasonably low level offences such as white collar crime and some sex offenders who are considered less risky.