Roadkill

The Minister is ready to say a few words.

REPORTERS CLAMOUR Good morning.

Most are of you will know that I've only just been made

Minister of Justice, but I wanted to come down to Shephill

as soon as possible because I know how important this is.

First, I want, unequivocally, to thank the emergency services

for their brilliant handling of the situation.

Things were bad, but they might have been a great deal worse.

I mean no disrespect to any of my predecessors,

but the time has come for a totally new approach.

We are the European champions at locking people up.

We look up more than anyone else.

Don't you believe in locking people up?

Someone should be asking the question, why are we wasting

so much public money on a policy that's not working?

Of putting so many people in prison,

in particular, so many women in prison.

It looks like you're saying this violence is going to be rewarded?

No, I'm saying that I'm a new minister, and I will be

looking at all the department's policies with an objective eye.

I've come to Justice.

Let there be no mistake.

I am going to shake things up.

Justice deserves that.

All right. Thank you, everybody.

Thank you so much. Thank you.

REPORTERS CLAMOUR

Dietl.

Well?

Are you going to tell us how this happened?

Who planned it? Nobody planned it.

That isn't true.

You talk to Andrea every day. I talk to a lot of women.

There's strength in solidarity.

Solidarity? Wake up, Rose.

You're not in a trade union here.

It's not a protest movement, it's a prison.

But we still enjoy basic human rights.

You're the smartest prisoner in Shephill. I refuse to believe

anything significant happens here without your participation.

Well, it doesn't matter what you believe.

It matters what you can prove. We've been through the video.

Then you know I didn't take any part.

You threw a sweatshirt over a camera.

We've got a screen grab.

I find it hard to believe that you would've done that

if you weren't a ringleader. I wasn't a ringleader.

The final bill for the damage could be hundreds of thousands of pounds.

I'm sure Parallax can take it.

Did you see the dividend they just paid shareholders?

It was in the Financial Times.

It was on Tuesday, I think.

You've made the point - you're clever.

Yeah, I'm a good deal cleverer than Parallax.

They just told the government they could run their prisons

at half price. This prison is run efficiently.

You must be worried about your own job.

Do you have anything else to fall back on?

Anything else in the skill set?

The director wants you to confirm who was behind the riot.

I'll only testify to a public inquiry. Judge-led.

That isn't going to happen.

That's not what the Justice Minister said.

An internal inquiry, that's it.

Inquiring into your own failings?

Nah, you won't get away with that.

You are smart.

And your friend, Steff...

..isn't so smart.

Please sit down.

Steff...

You did violence to a guard who had to receive hospital treatment.

No, that was just an accident.

She's ready to bring criminal charges.

That will see you back in Crown Court.

You could be in this prison for a very long time.

We want to ask you, Steff.

You had a visitor last week.

I don't want to talk about it. It's private.

You're looking at an extra 200 days.

You want to help your case, then you can help us.

What was Peter Laurence doing at Shephill?

And why was he talking to you?

Morning, Minister.

There's only one word for this - it's scandalous.

Good morning, Minister.

No, it's not a good morning, because I've been reading that.

I assume this is the Shephill visit.

Yes, it is, Dame Vanessa.

The Prime Minister's office has been on.

I'm sure they have.

They saw the interview.

That's the briefing paper.

I'm permanent undersecretary.

If there was an official briefing paper, I should have seen it.

It's something I ran up.

The Minister wanted some bullet points.

Do you know how many people have killed themselves

in British prisons in the last 20 years?

I don't have that figure to hand.

It's 2,000. I'd need to see the data.

No, you wouldn't, because I've just given it to you. It's 2,000.

That's 100 a year. That's two prisoners per week.

And no-one's doing a blind thing about it.

Don't you think your first priority, Minister, is to restore order?

No, I think my first priority is to restore sense.

Joy, diary.

The Prison Service has a chief psychiatric officer.

I can give you HIS survey on self-harm in prisons.

Self-harm? They're killing themselves!

With respect, Minister, this isn't an authorised paper.

It came from your...special adviser.

So you're saying the figure's wrong?

Once you get into the granular in this area of policy,

things aren't as simple as they seem.

Dead's pretty simple.

And the annual cost of keeping an inmate in prison?

The figures are soft.

Yeah, big and soft. Depending on the category...

All right. It's a 40,000 a year. For a young offender, 60,000.

May as well send them to Eton. At first appearance, it might...

And do you know the cost of maintaining the entire estate,

do you know what that is?

New ministers on arrival at Justice may be slightly misled.

Prisons are costing us £4.3 billion a year.

And that is why we've been trying to bring down

costs through privatisation. Got nothing against privatisation.

As long as it works. But I do have a simpler suggestion.

I think I may have heard it before.

Why don't we stop locking people up?

Well, as you are aware, that is a political question.

It's not something I can decide.

This ministry is drifting.

It's time to set a new course.

Joy!

The Minister's ready to look at his diary.

Thank you.

And are you the mysterious Margaret?

Good guess. Hmm.

You going to have a proper drink?

I'm going to have a large vodka, just so you know.

You don't remember me, do you?

Should I?

You were leaving court after the Peter Laurence case.

I overheard you talking to that little boy

who always follows you around.

Luke.

What did I say?

You said you loved getting the guilty ones off.

No, I didn't say guilty.

I said suspected guilty. Thank you.

You should learn to keep your voice down.

Whatever that is, I don't want it.

That's your choice.

But hang onto it. It won't do you any harm.

You going to tell me who you are?

I assume you're some kind of nutcase,

or maybe someone who's nursing a grudge?

Neither. What, then?

Someone who cares about the truth.

Unlikely.

If you cared about the truth, you would have given the papers team

this dossier, or whatever it is, weeks ago.

It wasn't possible. Why not?

How well did you get to know Laurence?

Well enough.

How did you find him? To deal with.

Refreshing.

There's something about Laurence's recklessness

that adds up to integrity.

He takes up genuine positions.

The papers are going nuts over his views over prisons,

and he doesn't give a damn.

That's class.

Sounds as if you agree with him.

You asked for my opinion.

Look, I've put the case behind me.

People don't hire me to investigate, they hire me to win.

And that's what I did.

You're going to take that file home and throw it aside...

..and then, one night, you're going to get up

because you can't resist reading it.

And maybe if you're not interested, the little dude will be.

Thanks for your time.

You all right?

You know someone in there?

Yeah, loosely.

Look, you don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to.

I don't.

Come on, Steff.

At least talk to me.

Please? I ain't got nothing to say.

They put me in here cos I'm useless.

Steff...we're going to get out.

We're going to walk out of here with our heads held high.

I'm not going to let them win.

Rose...

I'm going to get 200 more days.

KNOCK AT DOOR Come in.

I'm afraid there's a message from the Prime Minister.