Visit: David Blunkett

The home secretary, David Blunkett, has set out plans to end the cycle of reoffending in a bid to rebuild "community cohesion".

In a visit to a Leeds prison, the home secretary said the emphasis of penal policy must be on rehabilitation.

Launching a new computer-based prison education pilot scheme - Learndirect - Blunkett said he wanted to prepare prisoners for work on their release.

He said education and skills could be used to reduce the chances that a prisoner will re-offend.

"Many offenders lack key skills, the absence of which prevents them finding work. At present two thirds of prisoners do not have the basic literacy skills we would expect from an 11 year old or younger. Our aim is to ensure that they leave prison equipped to get a job and turn their backs on a life of crime," he said.

Blunkett said he wanted to "break the cycle of reoffending" and is said to be concerned at figures which show that 58 per cent of prisoners re-offend within two years.

The former education secretay belives that basic skills education can help combat the problem. "We must make sure that prison education challenges and stimulates people who have turned off from formal education," he said.

"The draw of modern technology, in the form of Learndirect, will give prisoners the opportunity to achieve a qualification and improve their employability through secure on-line learning. For many offenders this will be a real chance for a fresh start in the community, and to continue their educational progress on release," he said.

Blunkett, who made his first high-profile speech on sentencing last month, is embarking on a new "tough but tender" approach to prisons policy.

Since taking up residence at the Home Office he has kicked off a debate about what the purpose of sentencing actually is.

Blunkett wants to reform the system through a combination of rehabilitative, deterrent and punitive measures mixing toughness with a therapeutic approach designed to stop re-offending.

"Punishment should be an experience that puts individuals back on the straight and narrow. It should help prevent re-offending by using the whole period of an offender's sentence to tackle the underlying reasons that can influence criminality in the first place - drug or alcohol problems, mental illness and depression, or chronic lack of education and qualifications," he said in the July speech.

Blunkett was visiting Leeds Armley jail which is regarded as a model of Blunkett's new penal regime.

The prison has a successful record in helping prisoners to achieve basic skills qualifications and last year prisoners achieved 153 level two numeracy qualifications - twice the number set in the prison's targets.

"Improving the delivery of basic skills is at the heart of the government's commitment to improve dramatically the quality and quantity of prison education. The service is already seeing positive results with prisoners gaining over 50,000 certificates last year. But there is much further to go yet," the home secretary said.

Blunkett also visited projects which aim to keep young people busy in activities and schemes over the summer months in Bradford - the scene of recent race riots.

He visited two projects set to receive money from the ministerial group on public order and community cohesion.

"It is only through a proper understanding of the issues, as local people see them, that government can play its part in tackling the underlying problems and helping to rebuild communities," he said.

But he warned that decisions had to be taken at a local level in order to be effective.

"The solutions cannot be top-down - 'Made in Whitehall' - which is why the sorts of projects I have seen today are so important to protecting communities by engaging the commitment of young people and diverting frustrations away from violence on the streets," he said.