The prison population would need to reduce by 20,000 inmates for current funding to match running costs, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has told MPs
Instead, however, the number of prisoners is rising as judges give custodial sentences to a higher proportion of offenders and hand down longer sentences, according to a Justice Committee report published this week, ‘Prison Population 2022’.
Nevertheless, the committee did not have enough data to establish the extent to which sentencing guidelines have influenced sentencing practice.
The committee said government ministers had failed to commit to a clear plan of action to tackle the crisis in prison overcrowding and health and safety. While the government has acknowledged the strong case for the committee’s recommendation in April for a presumption against sentences of six months or lower, it had not said what action it would take or specified a timetable.
Bob Neill MP, chair of the Justice Committee, said: ‘Prisons remain overcrowded and unsafe and as a result rehabilitative programmes are failing.’
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