As polling station doors around the country swing open, the United Kingdom will decide who it wants to form the government for the next five years. Whoever emerges victorious tomorrow morning has, however, been warned of a future prison crisis.
A new report from Institute for Government has stated that the next government could face only a matter of days before it faces an emergency within the country’s prisons, as overcrowding worsens. Through The Crisis in Prisons: What is facing the next government, and how can it start to fix it?, IfG has outlined a number of recommendations in how immediate action can help to free up space in prisons.
According to the report, there is not enough time for the new government to enact longer-term measures such as revising policy around sentencing and expanding prison capacity, however, there is only a short list of options that can be made in the short-term, that would make enough of a difference and pose low risk to the public.
A number of recommendations have been made to ease the pressure on prisons in the short-term, buying the government some time, with these including:
- Lowering the point of automatic release for most offenders (not for serious violent of sexual offenders)
- Introducing a queuing system for immediate custodial sentences, allowing lower-risk offenders to begin their sentence under house arrest
- Allowing sentences up to three years to be suspended
- Reducing or removing supervision post-release for offenders whose sentences are less than 12 months.
Institute for Government Senior Researcher, and author of the report, Cassia Rowland, said:
“The new government will not have the luxury of time to decide how to respond to the crisis in prisons. Current emergency measures are both risky and insufficient. Implementing these short-term options – perhaps within days of the general election – is absolutely critical to avoid a looming emergency and to win the breathing space needed to develop longer-term solutions.”
Whilst short-term solutions will help to ease some of the pressure and buy the government time, the report also stressed that a longer-term strategy should be compiled to deal with prison challenges. This comes as the prison population stands at just over 87,000 currently, but is set to hit 99,300 by the end of next year. As only 4,400 new spaces are planned, there is not enough capacity to house the additional prisoners.
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