BENGEWORTH vicar Barry Collins was among 150 clergy hearing the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, speak on justice and order in a visit to Worcester Cathedral.

As well a Diocese of Worcester clergy, many visitors to the cathedral listened as Dr Williams talked about a just society being one open to challenge and testing. He looked at what is meant by justice from a theological and social perspective.

He argued for the neccessity of a penal system which commands trust, with people needing to believe not just in the system itself but in those authority responsible for maintaining it.

The Archbishop went on to debate physical and social conditions inside custodial institutions, referring to clarity about the resources needed to offer basic provision.

Following the Archbishop's lecture, a response was given by the Revd Collins, who worked as a prison governor in the 1980's before becoming a vicar.

Referring to the poor conditions in prisons, there does appear to be missed opportunities for improvement or insight, and hours of languishing in cells.

"I've watched prisoners cut down, lifeless, from ligatures of their own fashioning, weeks before their release. I have sat in coroner's court watching relatives hear how their son or husband took his own life. And more recently, I've wept and blasphemed as the then Home Secretary publicly expressed pleasure at the suicide of a notorious prisoner to whom he had a duty of care."

Mr Collins concluded that the recent proposal to abolish the Independent Prisons Inpectorate was an act of 'breathtaking cynicism' betraying a complete lack of understanding of the issues present in prisons.

"Personally, I'm convinced the existence of private prisons further and unneccesarily complicates an already tortuous ethical conundrum to no-one's benefit, a view shared and loudly proclaimed by senior members of this Government when in opposition.G

Mr Collins was one of three people invited to give a response to the Archbishop's talk. Juliet Lyon, from the Prison Reform Trust, and Diana Fulbrook, chief officer from Wiltshire Probation area, were also invited.