Reoffending rates '10pc lower in private jails' Chris Grayling, the Justice Secretary, should consider contracting out all 131 prisons in England and Wales, the Reform think-tank said, adding ministers would be wrong to limit the role of private firms to small contracts such as maintenance and catering. However, he admitted that only five of 12 privately-run prisons were better than comparable public sector prisons in terms of public protection. Private firms have been managing prisons since 1992, but in November last year Mr Grayling signalled a move away from wholesale privatisation as he decided four prisons, including G4S-run HMP Wolds, should be run by the public sector. Private companies will instead be brought in to all public prisons to run maintenance, resettlement and catering with the aim of saving up to £450 million over six years. Jeremy Wright, the prisons minister, said: "Let's be clear, there has been no u-turn on the use of prison competition. The cost of running our prisons is too high and must be reduced. This simplistic analysis does not tell the whole story - a wide range of factors contribute to reoffending including previous criminal behaviour, drug and alcohol dependency and the support offenders receive on release from prison. This is why we are committed to introducing significant reforms that will bring down our stubbornly high reoffending rates.