05-08-2025
Prison service was on verge of collapse over space of nine months
The prison service was on the verge of collapsing on several occasions between autumn 2023 and summer 2024, an independent review has found. The review by Dame Anne Owers was published today, August 5, and shows the potential collapse came as a symptom of a systemic problem which led to recurring prison capacity crises over the last 18 years.
The review, commissioned by Lord Chancellor Shabana Mahmood in February this year, details the damaging impact on prisons, probation, prison escort services and the courts up and down the country. It details how senior officials in the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and HM Prison and Probations Service (HMPPS) were meeting daily at times to document, monitor and attempt to resolve the capacity problems at the expense of other aspects of prison strategy and policy.
At the height of the prison crisis, frontline staff spent most of their time moving prisoners around and implementing ever-changing release schemes.
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During the crisis, the cost of holding prisoners in police cells reached over £70 million, and construction costs for new prisons nearly doubled, to £10.1 billion
Successive governments have been forced to implement last-minute emergency release measures as a result of the crisis. The population pressure has also affected prisons' capacity to operate safe environments,
Dame Anne, who previously held the role of Chief Inspector of Prisons between 2001 and 2010, has now said there needs to be a move from crisis management to a strategic approach, this is to ensure the entire prison network as well as probation and other community services are able to work efficiently to prevent offending and reoffending.
According to the review, at one point there were fewer than 100 places in adult male prisons, with a COBRA meeting being held in May 2025 following the announcement of the general election and concerns the prison system could collapse during the election campaign.
On three occasions, the report said, from 2023 onwards, prisons were running very close to capacity, to the point where the use of early release schemes helped to relieve pressure at the last moment.
The report said: "Senior officials were so concerned about a potential breakdown in the criminal justice system that an audit was kept of all decision-making and documents, in case there was a public or parliamentary inquiry.
"The system in fact limped through the summer of 2024, helped by the knowledge that relief was coming, in the shape of the new government's pledge to reduce the custodial element of most standard determinate sentences from 50% to 40% (SDS40)."
Dame Anne Owers said: 'The scale, likelihood, risks and consequences of the prison capacity crisis could not have been signalled more clearly, at every level of government.
"The response was last-minute short-term fixes rather than long-term solutions to the underlying problems. This is part of a repeated pattern of prison capacity crises, under successive governments, which have seriously affected prisons' ability to work effectively and safely.
'This report is the backdrop to David Gauke's review of sentencing and Sir Brian Leveson's review of the criminal courts. The Government should now put in place systems that don't just signal approaching problems, but stimulate action to prevent them.
"This involves ensuring not only that prisons have the capacity to work effectively, but that there is proper and sustained investment in community provision, to provide effective support to help reduce offending and reoffending.'
Dame Anne made the following recommendations:
Developing a ten-year strategy for capacity in probation and community services, similar to the prison capacity strategy published by the Government in December.
Establishing an independent advisory body to provide advice and external validation of capacity strategies across both prisons and probation, including the impact of any proposed changes to the criminal justice system. A similar body was recommended in the Independent Review of Sentencing.
Mandating the HMPPS Board to evaluate the Prison Service, in discussion with the Chief Inspector of Prisons, and to monitor and report on progress on capacity.
Involving the Chief Inspector of Probation and the third sector in discussing the design and delivery of community services, including addiction treatment and housing.
Reinvigorating the approach to integrated offender management to bring together agencies to deal with repeat and persistent offenders.
Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: 'This report lays bare the disgraceful way the last Conservative Government ran our prisons. They added less than 500 cells to the prison estate over fourteen years, released over 10,000 prisoners early under a veil of secrecy, and brought our jails close to total collapse on countless occasions.
'This Government is fixing our prisons, for good. Days after taking office, we took the emergency action required to stop our prisons from collapsing. We have already opened 2,400 new cells since coming into office, on track for 14,000 by 2031. And we are reforming sentencing to ensure we can always lock up dangerous offenders and keep the public safe."
