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Keir Starmer’s Government is set to be forced to release thousands more prisoners early over the next two years because of a continued legacy of overcrowded prisons, a report by MPs reveals today.
Internal Ministry of Justice figures handed to the Commons Public Accounts Committee show that prisons will be full again by early next year and short of 5,400 places by November 2027.
The number of prisoners who need to be released early will nearly be double the 3,100 prisoners released early last year, to considerable controversy.
Eligible prisoners serving more than five years were automatically released after only 40% of their fixed-term sentence, rather than the usual 50%, though sex offenders, stalkers, domestic abuse and those who committed serious violent crimes were excluded.
The overcrowding in prisons was caused by the failure of the last Conservative Government to fulfil their promise to build 20,000 places by next year. This has resulted in huge delays in bringing cases to the court, resulting in a record 17,000 people on remand, mainly in police cells. The collapse of the UK’s sixth biggest construction company, ISG, which was supposed to provide 3,500 new places and modernise a large part of the prison estate has also hit provision.
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The ministry is hoping that the current sentencing review under former Conservative Lord Chancellor, David Gauke, will recommend more sentences in the community which will relieve pressure on prisons. It is due to report in late spring.
Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, Conservative Chair of the Committee, said: “As with our recent inquiry into court backlogs, we find a Department grappling with the fallout of problems it should have predicted, while awaiting the judgment of an external review before taking any truly radical corrective action. Lives are being put at increasing risk by the Government’s historic failures to increase capacity. Despite the recent emergency release of thousands of prisoners, the system still faces total gridlock in a matter of months. It is now for the Government to act on the recommendations in our report if disaster is to be averted.”
It will not be until 2031 before four new prisons can be opened and officials could not assure MPs that the Justice Department that it would meet this deadline. One of the new prisons at Garth is currently facing a judicial review and others only have outline planning permission.
The prison service is also being hit by the continued dire state of existing cells on the prisons estate, which need urgent modernisation and proper fire protection. One major prison, Dartmoor, has had to be closed down for health and safety reasons as prisoners faced dangers from the emission of radon gas. This was revealed just after the ministry had negotiated a 25 year extension to its lease.
Prisoners who are being released also appear to be having little or no rehabilitation or help to get off drugs.
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Sir Geoffrey added: “This Committee recognises and respects the extraordinary work carried out by prison staff. This work is often done in the most difficult circumstances, even when the system is working at optimal efficiency. But our inquiry has established that severely overcrowded prisons are in danger of becoming pressure cookers. Vital rehabilitative work providing purposeful activity including retraining would help to cut high rates of reoffending – but this work is sidelined as staff are forced to focus on maintaining control of increasingly unsafe environments. Many prisoners themselves are living in simply inhumane conditions, with their health needs often overlooked.”
Responding to the report, Minister for Prisons, Probation and Reducing Reoffending, Lord Timpson said:
“This report exposes the catalogue of failures we inherited which almost collapsed our entire prison system. This not only risked public safety but added billions in extra costs to taxpayers.
“We have already taken immediate action to end the overcrowding chaos engulfing our jails and are now delivering on our Plan for Change to ensure prisons work, cut crime and make streets safer.
“This includes delivering 14,000 new, modern prison places by 2031 and reviewing sentencing so we never run out of space again. We’ll carefully consider the Committee’s recommendations as part of this work.”