Prison population ‘mushrooming out of control’
Population levels in English and Welsh prisons are completely out of control, a campaign group has said.
The Prison Reform Trust warns today that the human and financial cost of prison growth and overcrowding are now too great to bear.
New Ministry of Justice figures show that two thirds of prisons in England and Wales are officially overcrowded and there are now over 10,000 more people in the prison system than it is designed to hold.
Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust, said: “In an economic downturn it defies belief that billions of pounds should be spent locking up more and more people only to turn them out of jail homeless, jobless and ready to offend again.
“Ministers have grown complacent about jail overcrowding. Massive prison growth will not end of its own accord. It will take a concerted effort across government to reserve prison for those who have committed serious and violent crimes and to invest in drug treatment for addicts, mental health and social care and enforced community work for petty offenders.
“Right now, the prison population is mushrooming out of control, and the government is still trying hopelessly to build its way out of a crisis.”
Security is also being risked as the prison service tries to deal with the overcrowding problem, the Prison Reform Trust claims.
In July, 15 prisons across England and Wales were pushed beyond their overcrowding limit, jeopardising “control, security and the planned regime”.
It is claimed that overcrowding in prisons is failing to prevent re-offending, with Lucie Russell, director of SmartJustice, stating: “There is nothing smart about stacking up prisoners in overcrowded jails. It leads to more, not less, offending on release. It is not tough on crime, it is tough on the rest of us.”
Liberal Democrat justice spokesperson David Howarth said the figures showed the “bankruptcy” of Labour’s penal policy.
“The answer is not to build more prisons as they would soon themselves fill up,” he said.
“We need a break with the past and a new approach that restricts prison sentences to those who really have to be there and uses more effective measures such as restorative justice and mental health treatment for those who do not.”
