I think that this is an area where stereotyping and narrow thinking are easy options, and I applaud the government for trying to find different ways to address the issues involved.
I completely fail to see the purpose of 'league tables' for prisons, but then I have always been baffled by the Tories' love of this measuring system, mainly because it is meaningless.
If one prison 'scores higher' than another, what does that mean? Is everyone going to request a move to the 'better' prison, or, more worryingly, are staff at the 'scores lower' prison simply going to be demoralised?
A merit system only works if there is a real reason for measuring one against another - whatever the object being measured - and in the case of prisons, schools, police forces, hospitals, it is meaningless, offers a 'solution' where none exists, panders to the 'free market' ideology that is a cornerstone of Tory thinking, and ends up being mean and divisive, with no real benefit to anyone except those paid to keep score.