Prisoner early release was ‘brief respite’
The government’s policy to release offenders early has failed to ease prison overcrowding, figures suggest.
With prisons near capacity, the government announced in June that non-violent offenders could be released 18 days before the end of their sentence.
Intended to release the pressure on the prison system, The Prince Reform Trust (PRT) concluded today that prisoner early release had instead offered only a “brief respite” from overcrowding.
The government maintains it is increasing capacity in the prison system and the so-called prison crisis is under control.
Official figures show the prison population stood at 81,040 when the measure was introduced.
After a week-on-week rise of 389 the prison population was back up to 80,708 by last Friday. If this trend continues, the PRT warned the prison population would hit a new record high.
Juliet Lyon, PRT director, said: “The government is as little as a week away from losing entirely the brief respite in prison numbers gained by early release.
“Even over the summer, when many courts are away, the prison population has been growing by almost 400 a week – the size of a small prison.”
She warned the government would be unable to build its way out of a fresh prison crisis before the autumn, despite its planned prison building programme.
Ms Lyon continued: “The only way out is to take a more sensible, effective approach to crime and punishment.
“This means reserving prison for serious and violent offenders, adjusting the sentencing framework to allow for proper judicial discretion, cutting any unnecessary recalls and remands, making sure that petty offenders do enforced community work and diverting the mentally ill and addicts into treatment.”
A Ministry of Justice spokeswoman said the National Offender Management Service is building more capacity to diffuse the pressures on the prison service.
She said: “In the last two years, there has been an increase of around 3,200 places which includes building additional places at existing prisons and the opening of a new prison.”
The new capacity building programme is designed to deliver 8,000 new prison places by 2012, building on the planned expansion to add 700 places this year.
While the government insists it is boosting prison capacity, Jack Straw has admitted more prison cells may not be the answer.
Soon after assuming control of the Ministry of Justice, Mr Straw called for a national conversation on prisons, saying the justice service may have to incarcerate fewer people.
