BBC News reports that spending on the prison and probation system in England and Wales has risen by 36% since 2004, but front-line staff remain overstretched, a study has said. It calculates that the National Offender Management Service (Noms) – which runs the prison and probation services – spent £4.9bn in 2008-09. The independent report from the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies said this compared with £3.6bn in 2004-05. The Ministry of Justice said locking up more prisoners was “unsustainable”.
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The Guardian reports that the chief inspector of prisons has warned that maximum security prisons in England and Wales are less stable, more difficult to run and potentially less safe than nine years ago.
Dame Anne Owers says maximum security prisons have been remarkably safe places but this was threatened by growing numbers of young men, often from an inner-city gang culture, serving increasingly long sentences who might feel they have little to lose. In her valedictory Prison Reform Trust lecture in London tonight, she says the instability is being fuelled by increasing gang activity and a small minority of terrorist prisoners which means maximum security jails need sophisticated, continuous management.
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The Mirror reports that David Cameron has admitted that Britain’s criminal justice system is ‘not working and is in need of urgent reform’. The Prime Minister was speaking as it was disclosed that Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke is “sympathetic” to proposals for a shake-up of murder laws that could see some murderers serve less time in prison.
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The Telegraph runs the story today that Andrew Bridges, Chief Inspector of Probation, has alluded to the fact that ‘some reoffending — even if it involved “serious” new crimes — could be the price that society had to pay for trying to cut down on the huge cost of the country’s rising prison population’. But campaigners said his comments were insulting to victims of crime.
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Nick Cohen writes in Sunday’s Observerto say that Ken Clarke’s desires for reform hinge on providing an alternative to incarceration. He also states that unless ministers can break with the past and provide strong and credible options to jail, reform will collapse. “It is not simply that the public won’t accept it – but the courts won’t either. If there is no drug treatment programme to send an offender on, and no probation officers to supervise him, the judges will ignore the politicians and send him to prison.”
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Justice Secretary, Kenneth Clarke, has just given a speech on criminal justice reform at the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies. Click below to read the full transcript…
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According to an article in Children and Young People Now a Howard League spokesman suggests this quiet period might be positive. Meanwhile professionals seek some direction and the Ministry of Justice confirms YJB future is unclear.
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The homeless man was found to have suffered serious internal injuries and was found on June 12th. The boys were arrested over the weekend.
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BBC online reports today that a High Court judge sitting at Newcastle Crown Court ordered he must spend at least 16 years in jail before he can be considered for parole. An interesting example under the new system where judges manage tariffs formerly issued by the Home Secretary.
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The Mail Online reports on analysis from the Institute for Fiscal Studies that implies stringent cuts to police officer volumes and Courts.
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