The government has launched a review into sentencing around the country, with the aim being to end the ongoing prisons crisis.
This comes as more prisoners are set to be released from prison early to try and ease the chronic overcrowding that has come from a 30-year doubling of the prison population. Whilst 14 of the last 30 years have seen only 500 places added to the nation’s jail cell stock, the government has committed to adding an additional 14,000 places as well as outlining a strategy for the next ten years.
In order to ensure that the justice system is sustainable, the Sentencing Review will follow three core principles. These will aim to make sure that prison sentences punish serious offenders and protect the public, work to identify what can be done to encourage offenders to turn away from crime, and explore how tougher punishments can be implemented outside of prisons.
Alongside this, the review will look into how solutions such as technology could be implemented to provide alternatives to custody, this could include placing criminals in a ‘prison outside prison’.
Secretary of State for Justice, Shabana Mahmood, said:
“This government inherited prisons in crisis, within days of collapse.
“This review, along with our prison building programme, will ensure we never again have more prisoners than prison spaces.”
“I believe in punishment. I believe in prison, but I also believe that we must increase the range of punishments we use. And that those prisoners who earn the right to turn their lives around should be encouraged to do so.”
“The Sentencing Review will make sure prison and punishment work - and that there is always a cell waiting for dangerous offenders.”
A number of long-term solutions will be offered through the review, with these being identified through a number of methods including:
- Examining the use of non-custodial sentences
- Looking at the role of incentives in sentence management
- Exploring the use of short custodial sentences
- Reviewing the framework around longer custodial sentences
- Considering the approach to sentencing prolific offenders
- Considering specifically sentencing for offences against women and girls
Leading the review is former Conservative Justice Secretary David Gauke, who served in Theresa May’s Cabinet from 2018 to 2019. Speaking about the review, Gauke commented:
“Clearly, our prisons are not working. The prison population is increasing by around 4,500 every year, and nearly 90% of those sentenced to custody are reoffenders.”
“This review will explore what punishment, and rehabilitation should look like in the 21st century, and how we can move our justice system out of crisis and towards a long-term, sustainable future.”
The ongoing crisis in the nation’s prisons, and what the government might be able to do about it was discussed in this article from the latest edition of the Public Sector Executive Magazine.
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