Inside the Texas supermax prison inspiring a revolution in British jails

Convicted murderer Ray Davis admits it took him six years incarcerated in a supermax prison in Texas before he decided to try to turn around his life.

The 51-year-old killer is 30 years into a 99-year jail sentence for murder but has earned himself a chance of parole 15 years early because of his good behaviour and work ethic over the past 24 years.

His success is emblematic of an approach now being considered by Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood for prisons across England and Wales in what could be the biggest shake-up of sentencing in more than 30 years.

Under the initiative, prisoners earn credits of 10 to 30 days a month through good behaviour and engaging in work, education, training and treatment programmes. This “earned time” is taken off their sentences to bring forward their parole to as early as a quarter of the way through their jail terms.