MOUNTING OPPOSITION from Conservative MPs is expected following the publication of plans by justice secretary Ken Clarke to cut the United Kingdom’s prison population significantly, expand the use of community sentences and release perhaps several thousand serious offenders who are currently held indefinitely.
The proposals are made necessary by spending cuts and by Mr Clarke’s belief that the Conservatives’ decision under then home secretary Michael Howard in the early 1990s to increase prisoner numbers was a mistake.
Under the plan, thousands of offenders with mental, drink or drug problems will be sent onto treatment programmes, rather than jail. Judges will be able to sentence only the most serious criminals to indefinite jail terms.
However, the policy change encountered Conservative opposition even before it was announced, particularly from Mr Howard, who is now a member of the House of Lords.
He coined the phrase “prison works” during his time in the Home Office when he began a prison-building programme that led to a doubling of the numbers held in jail in the last 20 years.
“We have seen a very significant increase in the prison population since 1993 and an almost halving in the rate of crime. These two things have gone together – they are connected,” he told the BBC.
Conservative backbencher Philip Davies said he would not support legislation that would send fewer people to jail, saying he had made a commitment that the Conservatives “would send more people to prison”.
Last year, he said almost 3,000 burglars with 15 convictions or more were not sent to jail, while over 4,500 violent offenders with 15 or more previous convictions were not sentenced to new terms when they came before the courts.
“In some cases, people who went to court with over 100 previous convictions were more likely not to be sent to prison than sent to prison,” said Mr Davies.
Under Mr Clarke’s proposals defendants who plead guilty early will have their sentences halved, rather than cut by 30 per cent, while the cases of 3,000 people, jailed indefinitely, will be reviewed.
Private companies will be brought to offer training to prisoners, though they will be paid only if their charges do not re-offend. Four in 10 break the law within 12 months of release, and three in four do so within nine years.The government is planning to close six prisons.
