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Prisons are only 'days away' from running out of cells
Martin Bright, home affairs editor
Sunday March 7, 2004
The Observer
Jails in England and Wales will hit full capacity within days, prompting emergency plans to house prisoners in police and court cells.
This weekend there were just 231 spare places left across the country, sparking fears that prison overcrowding could make some of the larger prisons unmanageable.
In the past week alone, numbers rose by 183 to a record 74,960, with a real possibility that the 'full operational capacity' could be reached by the end of this week. In the past decade, the prison population has risen by 25,000 amid concerns over riots and an epidemic of suicides. Since Labour came to power, the prison population has risen by almost 15,000.
The news comes as the Home Office prepares to implement a new strategy on women in the criminal justice system, which could release thousands of minor female criminals to serve their sentences in the community.
Ministers are known to be concerned about the explosion of the women's prison population and have recognised that the vast majority of prisoners should not be there.
Home Office research into the women's prison population, to be published this week, will show that numbers have more than tripled in 10 years from 1,800 to 5,500.
Prison Minister Paul Goggins is likely to repeat his comments to a recent inquiry into a series of suicides at Styal women's prison in Cheshire: 'A key priority is to ensure that custody is only used for women who really need to be in prison.'
As fewer than 20 per cent of women have committed violent crimes, prison reformers argue that the women's prison population could return to its 1994 level with no danger to the public.
The Home Office is planning to create an additional 1,820 places in the next financial year, with a construction programme that includes two new prisons in Surrey and Cambridgeshire.
Contingency plans have been put in place to commandeer cells in police stations and courts, but senior police officers are opposed.
A Home Office spokeswoman said it was looking at ways to extend the home detention curfew scheme, which allows short-term prisoners to spend the last part of their sentence in the community on an electronic tag. At present, the use of the scheme varies around the country, depending on decisions by individual governors. 'We are encouraging consistency across the country. That applies to governors' use of curfew and the courts' use of community punishments.'
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/politics/story/0,6903,1163895,00.html
Martin Bright, home affairs editor
Sunday March 7, 2004
The Observer
Jails in England and Wales will hit full capacity within days, prompting emergency plans to house prisoners in police and court cells.
This weekend there were just 231 spare places left across the country, sparking fears that prison overcrowding could make some of the larger prisons unmanageable.
In the past week alone, numbers rose by 183 to a record 74,960, with a real possibility that the 'full operational capacity' could be reached by the end of this week. In the past decade, the prison population has risen by 25,000 amid concerns over riots and an epidemic of suicides. Since Labour came to power, the prison population has risen by almost 15,000.
The news comes as the Home Office prepares to implement a new strategy on women in the criminal justice system, which could release thousands of minor female criminals to serve their sentences in the community.
Ministers are known to be concerned about the explosion of the women's prison population and have recognised that the vast majority of prisoners should not be there.
Home Office research into the women's prison population, to be published this week, will show that numbers have more than tripled in 10 years from 1,800 to 5,500.
Prison Minister Paul Goggins is likely to repeat his comments to a recent inquiry into a series of suicides at Styal women's prison in Cheshire: 'A key priority is to ensure that custody is only used for women who really need to be in prison.'
As fewer than 20 per cent of women have committed violent crimes, prison reformers argue that the women's prison population could return to its 1994 level with no danger to the public.
The Home Office is planning to create an additional 1,820 places in the next financial year, with a construction programme that includes two new prisons in Surrey and Cambridgeshire.
Contingency plans have been put in place to commandeer cells in police stations and courts, but senior police officers are opposed.
A Home Office spokeswoman said it was looking at ways to extend the home detention curfew scheme, which allows short-term prisoners to spend the last part of their sentence in the community on an electronic tag. At present, the use of the scheme varies around the country, depending on decisions by individual governors. 'We are encouraging consistency across the country. That applies to governors' use of curfew and the courts' use of community punishments.'
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/politics/story/0,6903,1163895,00.html
