Falconer Faces Up To Jails Crisis On First Day Of Justice Ministry

The chief inspector of prisons warns today that offenders are being forced to “queue” for jail cells despite an assurance yesterday from the new justice minister, Lord Falconer, that the system can cope with the immediate crisis in prisoner numbers.

Anne Owers says in a report on Norwich prison published today that more than 7,000 inmates have had to be put up in police cells at a cost of £23m a month since the crisis started last October.

“Those with a prison bed when they set off for court had no guarantee they could return to the same, or any prison, or they could end up in a police cell, with their property left behind in the first prison. Because beds were scarce, escorts roamed far and wide, unable to tell prisoners when or where they would disembark,” says the chief inspector.

Lord Falconer, outlining his plans for penal policy on the first day of the new Ministry of Justice, acknowledges that the jail population, already at record levels of more than 80,600, will continue to climb before the government achieves its objective of stabilising prison numbers.

But in a change of tone, the first justice minister said the courts were passing sentences that were too long for “acquisitive crimes”, and outlined new measures to arrest the rise in prison numbers.

“Prison must be used for those who need it…however, we have learned that some short custodial sentences are not effective in reducing re-offending. That is why we want to see greater use made of the best community sentences where evidence shows…they offer more effective punishment than custodial sentences of less than 12 months,” said Lord Falconer.

A new criminal justice bill is to contain measures to curb some of the main drivers of the rise in prison population, the use of prison to deal with ex-prisoners who technically breach the terms of their release licence and the use of a new suspended sentence for summary minor offences since its introduction in 2003.

The reform of the rules on the recall of ex-prisoners who breach their licence will mean that offenders who are assessed as not being dangerous will be returned to prison for a maximum of only 28 days.

The reform of the suspended sentence orders will mean that it will be restricted for use with more serious offences tried in the crown court and no longer available to magistrates for summary offences.

Lord Falconer also said he has asked the Sentencing Guidelines Council to review the impact of the 2003 Criminal Justice Act. He said the anticipated shift from short custodial to community sentences had not taken place and the courts had made “a great deal of use” of the new sentences of indeterminate imprisonment for public protection – 2,200 and climbing. He has also asked for a review of the prison building programme to see if the promised extra 8,000 places can be provided more quickly.