How did you become aware of the issue of prisoner welfare?

It was after coincidental meeting at a Pact talk, the national charity for those affected by imprisonment. I met John Patience – chief executive of the Nehemiah Project in south London, a small charity that tries to help newly released prisoners find accommodation and work – and stay clean if necessary. I was impressed by its work and arranged a charity dinner which raised £25,000 for the project, which I hope helped raise its profile.

So what was the impetus behind the production of Rehabilitation by Design?

This period coincided with Cameron’s and Gove’s declared intent to allocate £1.3 billion to building nine new UK prisons. I thought you might get five with that figure. Gleeds has a lot of experience in this field and I wanted us to supply some thought leadership. US prison design expert Mark Goldman came on board and John Patience found the other panel members – criminologists and academics Hannah Thurston and Yvonne Jewkes (and Stanford University professor of psychiatry Keith Humphreys). The report took four months to produce from a standing start. It was fascinating.

Spending money on better prisons is a hard sell to voters isn’t it?

I’d concede that there is what one might call a ‘Daily Mail’ view out there but I think most people understand it’s unlikely that you’ll rehabilitate prisoners in buildings that are not fit for purpose – some prisons are over 200 years old. We looked at models in Denmark that give prisoners more autonomy, with rooms around common kitchens for instance – creating a sense of responsibility within the institution. Here, some don’t even allow inmates control over their cell lights.

So it’s not just about design?