What is to be Done?

 

It should now be clear to all that the prison system is facing a very serious operational crisis.  It’s at its most acute in local prisons like Wandsworth where the Chief Inspector, summarising his findings as death, drugs and despair, found a jail failing at the most basic level, with no reliable roll to ensure that all prisoners are accounted for and a degree of despondency he’d not seen before.

But we should be troubled too by an unnoticed local watchdog report on Long Lartin, a high security prison, where much of the existing surveillance technology is obsolete or unserviceable and the emergency control room cannot properly monitor the wings. “This limits its ability to deploy timely assistance in emergencies and seriously compromises the safety of prisoners and staff”.  

In a custodial estate of 120 prisons, there will always be a number where the challenge of too many prisoners, too few staff or crumbling infrastructure become overwhelming. As the Prison Governors Association has pointed out, the relentless and growing demand for cell space leaves almost no scope to grant temporary relief to places like Wandsworth by reducing their capacity.

Extending early release provisions and using police cells may buy the system some time but without proper resettlement support some of those let out early, may be back inside all too soon.

Probation will be “reset” to enable it to focus on its highest priorities but the National Association of Probation Officers has issued a breathless warning of “early release chaos”- and an increasing risk to public safety- without offering much in the way of alternative solutions.  

What more could be done? In the short term, there’s a need to close more tightly the entrance to the court and prison system as well as throwing opening the back door. Developing the use of Out of Court Disposals would for example reduce pressure on the magistrates courts.

Given the concentration of overcrowding in local jails, guidance from the Attorney General, Lady Chief Justice and Lord Chancellor could be issued encouraging alternatives to custodial remands whenever possible, if necessary, monitored with an electronic tag.

Larger sentencing discounts for early guilty pleas could also reduce periods spent both on remand and under sentence. The Justice Ministry are reviewing this but need to get on and act.

The Sentencing Council should expedite too the publication of their guideline on the imposition of community and custodial sentences which could result in fewer short jail terms. More urgency should be given to enacting the Sentencing Bill which would introduce a presumption that custodial sentences of 12 months or less will be suspended.

A more radical measure would be to ask courts to keep out of prison all convicted offenders who have successfully spent their remand period on bail in the community. If a custodial sentence is imposed, it  could be suspended, deferred, or postponed depending on the circumstances.

As for sentence lengths, the Sentencing Council should for most offences be asked to revise its guidelines to bring the average back down to where it was 10 years ago.  After all, most of its guidelines have not been intended to raise the “going rate” but for whatever reason that’s what’s happened with disastrous consequences for the prisons where the increased terms are served. Many of those being released early, will have served longer than they would have in the recent past.  

None of this will be politically easy and, in an election, year creating a much needed cross party consensus seems fanciful. But surely someone in Labour must recognise that the prison crisis is likely to be theirs to resolve before too long and it’s in their interest as well as the government’s to prevent it getting even worse.There are of course many reforms a new government should introduce to create a more sustainable, effective and humane justice system. But the priority now its to keep it functioning and safe.