Lots of historical precedents for Alex Chalk’s policy
manoeuvrings today. William Whitelaw introducing short sharp shock
detention centres to offset more generous parole arrangements came to my mind. And two
oddities in Chalk's speech have stuck there.
First his totally false claim that the reason the prison
population is nearly double the level it was three decades ago “is not
principally because of the growth in the sentenced population”.
The Ministry
of Justice wrote three years ago that “virtually all of the prison
population increase since 1993 has been due to the increased number of
prisoners sentenced to immediate custody.”
I’m genuinely puzzled why Chalk either doesn’t know this or
if he does why he would wish to mislead Parliament about it. And why civil
servants would allow him to say something which is factually untrue.
Second his wheeze on early release. He told MPs he’s decided
to use the power in section 248 of
the Criminal Justice Act 2003 to allow the Prison Service to move some less
serious offenders out of prison on to licence up to 18 days before their
automatic release date. This section allows the Secretary of State to release a
fixed-term prisoner on licence if he is satisfied that exceptional circumstances
exist which justify the prisoner’s release on compassionate grounds. Explanatory
notes say that the kind of exceptional circumstances are where the prisoner
is suffering from a terminal illness.
I wonder if it’s even lawful to use the power in the way he
now wants to.
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