Prisons throughout England and Wales are at their highest capability for months, with fewer cells out there than at any time this 12 months.
There are fewer than 1,000 spare jail cells throughout England and Wales, a report low for this 12 months.
Solely 961 areas at the moment are out there, that means prisons at the moment are nearly 98.9% full, based on new authorities figures.
It means the jail property is now underneath extra pressure than it has been for months, together with when the federal government was compelled to launch round 3,000 prisoners early to keep away from overcrowding in autumn final 12 months.
The Howard League, a charity calling for reform of the jail system, mentioned it exhibits the system is “failing” and “unsustainable”. It added it “could not be clearer that further action is necessary” and known as on the federal government to ship fewer folks to jail.
What do the brand new figures present?
The variety of free cells has not fallen under 1,000 for at the least the previous six months – however now it has, that means there’s only one.1% capability spare.
There are simply 551 empty locations in males’s prisons, and 261 in girls’s prisons throughout England and Wales, as of 14 April.
Throughout the Youth Custody Service, there are 141 empty cells, although this space is assumed much less of an issue when it comes to overcrowding.
Ministers shall be underneath renewed strain to behave as prisons have reached 98.9% capability, with 88,081 women and men serving custodial sentences, based on figures from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ).
The statistics additionally present greater than 3,200 prisoners are already serving their sentences at residence. This implies they may usually be topic to strict circumstances comparable to curfews and bans on ingesting, which could be monitored by an digital tag.
Picture:
The justice secretary refused to rule out shortening sentences of violent offenders. Pic: PA
Might one other ’emergency choice’ be on the horizon?
This can be a worse place than earlier than both early launch carried out final 12 months, when some inmates had been freed after serving solely 40% of their sentences, quite than the same old 50%.
On the time, the federal government known as it an “emergency decision” and blamed the Conservatives for not creating extra capability whereas in energy.
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There have been simply 1,098 spare cells on 6 September 2024 with prisons 98.7% full, based on the MoJ.
Round 1,700 folks had been then freed on 10 September, with the variety of spare locations – known as the headroom – rising to three,219 on 10 September 2024.
The next month, the federal government discovered itself in an identical place. Prisons had been 98.1% full, with only one,671 spare cells, as of twenty first October. The subsequent day, round 1,100 prisoners had been freed, elevating the headroom to three,141.
However now the jail property is in an excellent worse place, with figures displaying the inhabitants steadily rising because the begin of the 12 months. There have been greater than 85,000 prisoners behind bars initially of January, and this has now elevated by some 2,500.
The federal government’s early launch scheme additionally confronted criticism on the time, with the Conservatives branding it a “rookie error by an arrogant and inexperienced government”.
Quite a few different strategies are being tried to forestall jail overcrowding, with the federal government revealing plans to make use of an emergency measure in order that cells in police stations may very well be used to accommodate inmates.
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December 2024: ‘Overcrowding and understaffing’ in prisons
Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood has additionally refused to rule out shortening sentences of violent offenders – probably together with these criminals in any future early launch schemes.
Jail state of affairs ‘unsustainable’
Responding to the figures, Andrew Neilson, the director of campaigns on the Howard League for Penal Reform, mentioned: “Prisons have been asked to do too much, with too little, for too long, and these prison population figures show that even the early release of thousands of people has not been able to solve this problem for good.”
He added that greater than half of prisons are overcrowded and mentioned “the situation is unsustainable”.
“Overcrowding and lack of resourcing are contributing to a failing system where the needs of people in prison are overlooked and unmet,” he mentioned.
“It could not be clearer that further action is necessary. Ministers have acknowledged that they cannot build their way out of this crisis.
“We should ship fewer folks to jail, curb the usage of recall after launch, and prioritise delivering an efficient and responsive probation service that works to chop crime locally.”
An MoJ spokesperson mentioned the federal government “inherited overcrowded prisons, days from collapse”.
“We introduced emergency measures last summer but we were always clear that longer term action was required,” they mentioned.
“This includes delivering 14,000 new prison places by 2031, with 900 already delivered and 1,500 more opening this summer. We will also reform sentencing to ensure no government runs out of prison space again.”
