Prisons have been increasingly in the news over the last year. There is a great deal of controversy over whether or not we need to build more prisons, whether sentences should be longer and the cost of all this to the taxpayer. A great deal of work has been conducted by the newly-formed study group belonging to independent research organisation Prison Reform. The study group is headed by former Cabinet Minister and former prison inmate Jonathan Aitken.

Aitken perhaps is in a better position than anyone to put together a comprehensive reform report. He has, of course, had experience at the highest level of government, having served as a Cabinet Minister. But, just as important, if not more important, is the fact that Aitken has spent seven months in prison.

He was convicted of perjury in 1999. Therefore, his work will be based not only on research figures, but also on personal experience. He has seen first hand the condition of the British prison system.

His highly anticipated report is due to be published early next month and is expected to recommend root and branch reforms, particularly in the areas of drug rehabilitation and educational reforms.

One of the greatest questions facing the Government at the moment is, do we need to build more prisons? Well, the short-term answer would be "yes". Britain's prison population is growing by the month. Criminal activity has risen dramatically over the last decade.

These projected prisons will house thousands of offenders. Therefore, more prisons are needed to house dangerous offenders – those convicted of murder and sex crimes and drug distribution.

But what do more prisons achieve? They cost the taxpayer an enormous amount of money. Budget predictions at the moment for future prison construction have already reached more than £100 million.

In addition to that, every offender in the British prison system costs the Government £40,000 per year, the equivalent of boarding fees at Britain's top school, Eton.

When leaving prison, most prisoners say the only thing that they have gained is a greater knowledge of how to become a more successful criminal.

Many develop serious drug addictions in prison which follow them from prison back to the outside world and inevitably back into crime to support their habit and, ultimately, back into prison – a vicious, unbreakable circle.

These are the two most crucial areas that must be tackled.

If constructive initiatives can be put in place to combat these central issues, then prison numbers can be reduced, Government money saved and crime figures will drop.

Government statistics reveal that seven out of 10 prisoners in HMP Bristol cannot read or write. The chance of anyone being offered a job who can't read or write is next to zero.

This leaves the former prisoner feeling that the only answer is to return to their life of crime.

Many prison governors believe their only solution is to improve education inside of prisons.

One of the problems is that prisoners are paid less to attend education classes than they are to clean the prison toilets.

If an equal wage could be offered, this at least would be more of an incentive to prisoners to learn and improve their education skills.

Many prisoners, however, think that even if they gain an education in prison they still won't find work when they leave prison because employers will be put off because of their criminal record.

The Government is looking at ways to break the pattern of crime. A possible solution to this problem would be to offer tax incentives from the Government to small and large businesses alike to encourage them to employ former prisoners.

One thing is certain. If new ideas aren't found soon, the prison population will continue to grow at such a pace that the Government will have to keep finding more and more money to build prisons.

The simple fact is that our economy is in deep recession, the worst experienced in this country since the 1920s. Government funding is becoming increasingly difficult to find.

The money that is being spent on building a projected six new prisons could be given to the hard-pressed NHS to build more hospitals.

Alternatively, more funding could be made available to compensate our wounded service men and women returning from Iraq or Afghanistan.

Surely there are more worthy ways of spending the taxpayer's money than building more and more prisons?

Solutions must be found to assist prisoners who have served their sentences so they can move back into society and play a constructive role.

Edward Myler-Crook recently finished a Masters degree in philosophy at Cambridge University where he gained a distinction with the thesis Possibility And Problems For Education Within The British Prison System. For this, he interviewed prison governors, officers, educators, offenders and former offenders including Jeffrey Archer. For the last year, he's been working with Jonathan Aitken in prison education research.