Britain should make “more use of open prisons” to avoid overcrowding and reduce re-offending, the man leading the government’s sentencing review has suggested.
David Gawick said The Times that “we’ve run out of space” in prisons and that there is “an opportunity” to change the system if inmates are given more freedom to leave prisons to study and work during the day.
The former Conservative justice secretary has been called in by the government to review sentencing and tackle overcrowding.
His comments followed visits to three prisons in Spain, where 25 percent of inmates are held in open prisons as a result of reforms.
He said the policy saved money and better prepared inmates for release, making them less likely to reoffend.
Gauke served as Justice Minister in Theresa May’s cabinet between January 2018 and July 2019.
He was appointed to lead the government earlier this year. Penalty reviewwhich is expected to consider scrapping short sentences as an alternative to prison and toughening community orders.
The review was a pledge in Labour’s manifesto and the party has also appointed Lord Timpson, the former head of a key cutting chain that hires ex-offenders and head of the Prison Reform Trust, as prisons minister.
“I think there’s a growing recognition that we’ve gone down the path of increasing sentencing to the point that it’s not doing anything to reduce crime, it’s causing it,” Gauke told The Times. are incurring significant costs.”
“It’s not about being soft on crime, it’s about reducing crime more effectively.”
The government has Already underway 5,500 prisoners initially as part of an emergency plan to free up cells and prevent the justice system from collapsing, and also announced a sentencing review aimed at reducing more non-custodial sentences.
The policy is to be reviewed in 18 months.
According to the latest Ministry of Justice figures released on 23 December, there are currently 85,877 people in prison in England and Wales. The current operational capacity of prisons is 88,688.
The Ministry of Justice has pledged to find a total of 14,000 cell spaces in prisons by 2031.
Around 6,400 of these will be in newly built prisons, which will cost £2.3 billion over the next two years.
But in early December, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood told BBC Radio 4’s Today program that simply building more prisons would not solve the overcrowding crisis.
Asked if the estate would run out of sales within three years despite the 14,000 extra places, Mahmood said: “We will run out because all that new supply, along with the increase in prison population, which We’ll see as a result. New supply doesn’t help you increase demand, because demand is still growing faster than any supply.”
Gawke has also said that building more prisons is not the answer. A more “strategic” approach is needed to free up space.
A sentencing review is expected to make its recommendations in the spring.