08 November 2007
In brief
Courts are justified in giving lower sentences where prisoners face overcrowded jails, says Sir Igor Judge, the first head of criminal justice. Judge, who is also president of the Queen’s Bench Division, told a meeting of the Prisoners’ Education Trust: “You have to take into account, in the punitive element of the sentence, that in conditions that are wildly overcrowded, you may be serving your sentence in dreadful conditions, locked up with one or two other people or forced into a situation where there is no exercise.” His remarks follow the news last week that the prison population has soared to the record level 81,474, including 339 in police cells.
