A network of independent prison monitoring groups is to be headed up by the Bishop of Worcester, Dr Peter Selby, who is an advocate of reform and of restorative justice.

In a lively debate in the House of Lords yesterday, the Anglican Bishop of Worcester, Dr Peter Selby, spoke out firmly in favour of the retention of an independent inspectorate of prisons, forcing the government onto the back foot on the issue.

The bishop to the Prison Service today backed penal reformers' calls for a thorough evaluation of prison privatisation.

Bishops have lined up to attack the Government's Asylum and Immigration Bill which had its Second Reading in the House of Lords this week.