Convicts 'will be denied Sky Sports and 18-rated DVDs' Offenders will start their life behind bars having to earn any perks Only by hard work or study will they be allowed to watch television Inmates who damage property will be forced to pay compensation Prisoners will be forced to work to end the culture of "holiday camp" jails. They will also be denied access to Sky Sports and 18-rated DVDs and will no longer win privileges simply for keeping out of trouble. Instead, offenders will start their life behind bars adhering to a spartan regime, wearing prison uniform and having to earn any perks. Spartan regime: Offenders will no longer win privileges simply for keeping out of trouble Only by hard work or study will they be allowed television, full access to the gym, the right to wear their own clothes and to be able to spend any money they earn in the prison shop. Inmates who wreck cells, start fires or damage prison property will be forced to pay compensation. Announcing the shake-up in an interview with the Daily Mail yesterday, prisons minister Jeremy Wright said: "Prison is there to punish, it's not there to be comfortable. It's there to be somewhere you don't want to go back to and what we are doing in changing the regime is to make sure that message is there and heard loud and clear. But it's also a place where we expect rehabilitation to happen. We expect people to do those things that make it less likely when they come out that they reoffend. Inmates used to get full entitlements simply by avoiding violence; if you "kept your nose clean and didn't punch the officers," said Mr Wright. Justice Secretary Chris Grayling during a visit to Pentonville Prison who has criticised the 'frills' available to prisoners But, in future, offenders will go on a new entry regime for the first fortnight of their sentence, during which they will have to wear uniform and be denied TV and use of the shop. They will be required to join a work programme, education or drug rehabilitation course or some other purposeful activity. To mirror life outside, the "working day" in prison will be extended to 9am to 5pm. If prisoners fail to comply with the new rules, they will be left on the "Basic" new entry regime. The changes follow a review ordered by Justice Secretary Chris Grayling, who has criticised the "frills" available to prisoners but unaffordable for ordinary families. The "Incentives and Earned Privileges" scheme will mean inmates no longer languish in their cells watching television. They will be expected to "engage in their own rehabilitation," Mr Wright said, in the hope fewer inmates offend when they get out. Most people would expect that prisoners were engaged in work or purposeful activity when they are in prison and aren't sitting around watching television. We are going to expect prisoners to play their part and if they don't they won't be getting the privileges that previously they have had. If you show no willingness to engage with the regime, no willingness to engage in your own rehabilitation you will go down to basic. If you don't want to bother, if you don't want to go to work, if you don't want to go to education, if you don't want to do the drug treatment that has been recommended for you, you will stay on basic, you will stay in the prison clothes, you will stay without a television and the money you have access to will be limited. The choice is in your own hands. From the end of next month, 18-rated DVDs will join extreme video games in being banned in all jails. No frills: Justice Secretary Chris Grayling (centre) looks-on as inmates play pool during a visit to Pentonville Prison Sky Sports and other subscription channels, which are permitted in private prisons, will be switched off permanently during the summer. "We just don't think it's right that prisoners should have access to subscription TV channels," said Mr Wright. We don't think it's right because there are plenty of my constituents who struggle to afford those things and they don't see, and I don't see, why prisoners should get them. An enhanced regime will exist for convicts who show good behaviour and "give something back." This could include higher spending limits. He said prisoners shouldn't be able to damage property "without consequences" and officials would claw back the cash. The announcement was condemned last night by Frances Crook of the Howard League for Penal Reform. She said: "The fact the prison population has doubled in the past 20 years has left prisons overcrowded and staff overstretched, with little choice but to lock people up in their cells all day with nothing to do."