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Spokesman cites ‘mistake’ over two day-release prisoners meant to ‘help the whole community’ at former home secretary’s house An investigation has been launched into how two prisoners on day-release were allowed to do some painting work for the former home secretary Jacqui Smith. Smith made a contribution to charity after the offenders spent a few hours decorating a room at her home in Redditch while they were on release from jail working in the community. The former MP said in a statement that she thought the offenders were supposed to be gaining work experience. But the prison service said on Wednesday that the two inmates, from HMP Hewell in Redditch, were supposed to be doing work that would benefit the community as a whole. A spokesman for the prison service said the offenders were meant to be doing work to “help the whole community” as part of a scheme run by a local charity, the Batchley support group. He said: “The decision to provide prisoners for this work was taken without consultation with HMP Hewell or the Ministry of Justice and was a mistake. “Offenders should work on projects which help the whole community. The scheme has been suspended while a full internal investigation is undertaken.” In a statement to the Sun, which broke the story, Smith said that the prisoners were only working at her home for three hours. “I understand that prisoners go to Batchley support group to gain work experience and do a range of jobs in the Batchley area where our house is,” she said. “As part of this project, two people did about three hours’ work in our house on one day for which we made a donation to the Batchley support group.” She did not say how much she donated. Smith, who resigned as home secretary after her parliamentary expense claims became controversial, lost her seat at the 2010 election. Prisons and probation UK criminal justice Jacqui Smith House of Commons Communities Andrew Sparrow guardian.co.uk