With the maximum capacity for prisoners in England and Wales standing at just over 87,000, the available places is reported to be in the low hundreds. The system is at crisis point, and has been for some time now, and with no apparent solution to remedy this crisis
The new Labour government has pledged to ‘get a grip’ on the prison population crisis amid growing speculation that prisoners will be released earlier in their sentence. According to media reports, the government is considering lowering the automatic release point from the current 50% of time served to 40%. There is weight to this rumour as in a letter to party leaders ahead of the election, the Prison Governors Association, which represents over 95% of prison governors, called for an immediate change in legislation that would see prisoners routinely released from custody at the 40% mark. The association said it would be far easier to release prisoners earlier from custody ‘than to be in a position where the police and courts have nowhere to send even the most serious offenders.’. Therefore, with the support of the prison officers union, the new Government may well feel the time is right to implement these legislative changes, as it may feel under less pressure from the media who may call them soft on crime
An announcement is expected imminently we are told. Watch this space.
