Alex Chalk, the new Attorney General, visits HMP Isis in South East London. Photo: Paul Grover for The Telegraph
The new Attorney General has vowed to demand «very high standards» of civil servants and expects a «steady slowdown» despite the forced resignation of Dominic Raab, his predecessor.
B Alex Chock, a successful prosecutor who has imprisoned rapists, extremists and fraudsters, said in his first interview that the Department of Justice (DOJ) is too critical to lower the standards expected of civil servants.
He said that Mr. Raab «did the right thing» in stepping down after an independent investigation into the bullying allegations, acknowledging his «tremendous intelligence and hard work.»
But he said: in the pace of work and really high expectations that I place on these talented civil servants.
“I would call my approach reliable, but fair. This is a critical department for maintaining trust in the rule of law and preserving the principles we stand by as a nation, which means we need very high standards in the department.”
He spoke of his first visit to HMP Isis, a prison for men aged 18 to 27 next to Belmarsh, a maximum security prison in southeast London that houses some of the UK's most dangerous terrorists and criminals. p> 
This is his second time at the DOJ. Photo: Paul Grover for Telegraph
He announced that every prison officer in England and Wales would have a body-worn video camera to counter violence in prisons. The DOJ has doubled the number of officers to 13,000, meaning that each officer will have access to one officer while on duty.
They are considered vital for providing hard evidence of any prisoner abuse, as well as for reduce escalating crises because prisoners know that once they are turned on, «they can't lie,» as one HMP Isis officer put it.
Mr Chok said: “This helps prevent incidents that might otherwise get out of hand. It is important to note that if prisoners do misbehave and put [officers] at risk, then the evidence will be very strong and it is very likely that there will be consequences. Frankly, if the prisoners behave inappropriately, they will be punished.”
This is Mr. Mel's second job at the Justice Department. As Minister of Prisons and Probation, he developed a public reckoning policy for criminals in reflective jackets to clean up graffiti and criminal damage and restore abandoned land that Boris Johnson called «chain gangs.»
He said he would insist that police chiefs provide projects to clean up their sites for local criminals so that there is a «vacancy pipeline» that the courts can confidently use for offenders as a potential alternative to prison.
However, he emphasized that those who «betray trust, destroy lives, and steal innocence» will not escape prison.
Mr. Chok said he has three motives — «the guilty are convicted, the innocent are at large, and the public is protected» — and they will be the «prism» through which he will decide whether to proceed with Mr. Raab's parole reforms, giving ministers have the power to veto parole board decisions to release the most violent criminals or terrorists.
One of his priorities, he said, will be to increase the ability of courts to reduce delays through additional sitting time for judges, additional Nightingale courts and independent consultants to help victims of sexual assault and domestic violence go to court to be less reluctant to participate due to for the long wait.
“The really important things that I want to keep and improve are access to justice and the rule of law. These are not just fancy traditional principles, he said.
“Those are the reasons why, if, like me, you prosecute five people for rape, you want them to get a fair trial so that the victims are not subjected to horrific ordeals when people are released on appeal.
< p>«So it's about the system being able to deliver justice for the victims, to protect the public and ensure justice.»
As Attorney General during Covid, he opposed any attempt to dilute justice by refusing to try by jury, as some have argued that justice should be expedited and the delays the system now faces should be avoided. He said it would be «easy» but «a serious mistake, because the jury system is the foundation of our freedoms.»
It is also one of Mr. Raab's new «rights» in the law. The British Bill of Rights, which many thought was thrown out, now that it's gone. When asked, Mr. Chalk is not convinced that the right to trial by jury should be enshrined in law, but he said he would consider «every aspect» of the proposed bill of rights «with very great care» before deciding what to do.
Mr. Raab had a notoriously cold relationship with the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), which robbed him of his salary. Mr. Chock said he was a member of the CBA and wanted to be «a friend of the professionals.» But, as with his demand for high standards from civil servants, he said: «I will always be ready for a frank and direct conversation.»
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