Some people find benefits in prison that they have not found elsewhere. Another friend, whose son dropped out of college and ended up in prison where he completed a degree, said to me that it was a great pity her son had to go to such lengths to finish his education. We make a great effort to involve prisoners in education within the Prison Service. I have the greatest respect for all those involved in education in the Prison Service because they try to do the best job they can. The more encouragement we can give prisoners within the Prison Service – perhaps initially only to become involved in learning to read and write, with which I have discovered a considerable number of them have a problem – the better. I have visited many prisons here, but I have not been an inmate. Sometimes when I say "the last time I was in Mountjoy" people ask me if I was in for shoplifting or for being around Burlington Road again.