In a report published last week, the Justice Committee warned the number of prisoners on remand is at its highest in 50 years. Moreover, the prisoners are being held for longer periods of time, often beyond the statutory six-month limit. Those found not guilty at trial are not entitled to any support on release.
The committee said the backlog of cases in the courts is a major factor, but identified other factors too, including the lack of community provision for homelessness, mental illness and drug abuse. Another reason is that custodial remand is increasingly used for non-violent offences—female defendants are often held on remand despite posing a low risk to the community and for crimes that do not carry a custodial sentence.
The Justice Committee called for an independent review into the application of the Bail Act 1976, and of the legal framework for custody time limits. Moreover, greater use of alternatives such as conditional bail and electronic tagging would ease the burden, it said.
The committee called for remand prisoners to be given the same access to mental health services, drug treatment, education, training, discharge grant and support on release as the rest of the prison population.
Sir Bob Neill, chair of the Justice Committee, said custodial remand was ‘too often’ being used ‘as an easy option in cases of low-level repeat offending or social problems with little thought for the lasting consequences this can have on the individual’.
Law Society president Lubna Shuja said: ‘We echo the committee’s concerns.
‘Solicitors repeatedly tell us about the difficulty of seeing clients in custody and there is a real danger of people not getting proper access to justice.’
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