CAMPAIGNERS for prison reform have called on the subsequent government to deal with urgently the problem of overcrowding — not by constructing more prisons, but by reducing the number of individuals behind bars.
The latest prison-population figures, released this week by the Ministry of Justice, show that 87,284 individuals are being held in prisons in England and Wales — up by 2000 a 12 months ago. The UK has the best incarceration rate in Western Europe.
Last October, the Government announced an early release scheme to permit “low-level” offenders out of prison as much as 18 days early, to ease overcrowding. In March, this increased to as much as 60 days, and, last month, was prolonged again to 70 days. Anyone convicted of terrorism, or a sexual or serious violent offence, is excluded.
On Monday, the Shadow Justice Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, declined to rule out the continuation of the scheme under a Labour government. She said that it might be “irresponsible” to make a call without seeing figures on what number of offenders had been released.
The topic has otherwise received little attention up to now through the General Election campaign, as parties jostle over tax and immigration.
The Bishop of Gloucester, the Rt Revd Rachel Treweek, who’s Bishop to HM Prisons, said this week that the crisis was “not prisons which need expanding, but slightly our imaginations and public understanding”.
She continued: “We need courageous long-term considering, rooted in a vision of restoration and transformation. We have to be more courageous in establishing alternatives to the revolving door of prison and the repeated pattern of fractured relationship.
“Such solutions would come with ever-more imaginative community-based initiatives; not using prison as a spot to accommodate individuals with severe mental-health problems; and shaping alternative interventions for a lot of whose offending is rooted in drug addiction.”
Bishop Treweek, who last week visited the Netherlands to learn more about their criminal-justice system, has called for a move away from short sentences, which, she said, “disrupt lives and achieve nothing”. More than half of the prison sentences given to women in 2022 were for lower than six months.
There is broad agreement across the charities working within the sector about what approach the subsequent government should take: one which focuses on long-term solutions, equivalent to crime-prevention and rehabilitation, slightly than punishment and lengthening of sentences.
Recidivism rates in prisons within the UK are also high; one quarter of prisoners reoffend inside two years of being released.
Children are also being affected. The charity Children Heard and Seen was set as much as support children with a parent in prison. In some cases, these children were left living alone, with none support in place, and without the authorities’ knowing about their situation. It estimates that 312,000 children are affected by parental imprisonment, and that the shortage of support implies that many children turn into offenders themselves.
Two-thirds of boys with a parent in prison go on to commit an offence, it says.
The charity is campaigning to have parental imprisonment officially recognised in law by autumn 2025, and for the Government to introduce a statutory mechanism to discover and support children with a parent in prison.
The Prison Reform Trust supports prisoners and their families, and advocates for a discount in mandatory imprisonment, in addition to for community solutions which address the foundation causes of crime and cut reoffending.
Its chief executive, Pia Sinha, said this week: “Our wish list for prison reform under a recent government could be to urgently address the overcrowding crisis by not only taking a look at ways during which capability inside prisons could be increased, but additionally to have a look at serious and viable alternatives to custodial sentences. All the evidence points to the proven fact that community and suspended sentences have a greater impact on reducing reoffending, as they address the foundation causes of crime.”
She continued: “A recent government cannot simply construct its way out of the crisis; it must be brave and have a look at how we stem the flow of individuals being unnecessarily imprisoned in the primary place. This is an expensive and inefficient technique to protect the general public, and we want to follow the evidence slightly than the rhetoric.”
The Howard League for Penal Reform campaigns for rehabilitation of offenders and restorative justice. Its chief executive, Andrea Coomber, said that prisons were a “waste of public money and human potential. . . With prisons across the country in a desperate state, it’s time for politicians to return forward with a smart strategy to scale back the number of individuals behind bars.
“Building more jails will not be the reply. Prisons are a dreadful waste of public money and human potential; they cause untold harm to individuals, families, and communities, and don’t address the causes of offending.
“If it’s serious about reducing crime, the subsequent government will divert lots of people away from the criminal justice system into properly resourced community services that address triggers equivalent to poor mental health, and drug and alcohol dependency. It will spend money on schools, hospitals, housing, and jobs; things known to stop crime.
“And, finally, it can initiate an honest and informed public conversation about sentencing policy. It is ever longer sentences — sentence inflation — that’s the explanation prisons are on this mess.”
