John Mann, MP for Bassetlaw has today heavily criticised Minister for Justice, Ken Clarke on his plans for the future of prisons, saying "The Tories went into the election attacking early prison release. We now know that this will no longer be an issue as Clarke and the Tories will not be putting these convicted burglars and robbers into prison in the first place".

John Mann added "This fundamentally weakens the battle against hard drugs and will leave pensioners in particular vulnerable to repeat offenders who steal small amounts of money for drugs but at huge emotional cost to the victims who are disproportionately pensioners.

This is a wicked policy and waves the white flag of surrender to the drug dealers".

In 2003 John Mann organised an inquiry into the high level of heroin abuse in Bassetlaw and found that whilst drug users need swift access to treatment, the best cure is to target and remove the dealers and put them in prison. He also found that the consequences of acquisitive crime which drug users rely upon to pay for their habits have an ongoing debilitating and damaging effect on the local community. The Inquiry's proposals were taken up by Bassetlaw health providers and law enforcers and which led to an immediate and significant decrease in localised acquisitive crime.

 30 June 2010