Latest news with #prisons
The Guardian
28-05-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
UK politics live: minister defends Labour's justice record after warnings of threat to public safety
Update: Date: Title: Minister defends government's record on prisons and sentencing after warning from security officials Content: Housing minister Matthew Pennycook has defended the government's record on prisons and sentencing in England and Wales after criticism from senior security officials, but said 'we can't build our way out of' prison capacity pressures in the short term. Earlier today the Times newspaper reported that the heads of the Metropolitan police, MI5 and the National Crime Agency have told the government that plans to release prisoners early could be of 'net detriment to public safety.' Speaking on Times Radio the minister said 'The risk to public safety I'd highlight is the prospect of our prison system collapsing, which is what we face and why we've had to act.' He continued by saying: What we were handed by the previous government in terms of the state of our prison system was nothing short of criminal neglect. They added just 500 places to the prison estate in their time in office, while at the same time, sentence lengths rose, and as a result, we got the prison population rising by approximately 3,000 people each year. And we're heading back to zero capacity. If we run out of capacity, courts will be forced to suspend trials, the police will have to halt arrests, crimes will go unpunished. We'll essentially be in a breakdown of law and order, so while we're trying to add prison places as fast as we can as a Government – and we've already created 2,400 since taking office, allocated an additional £4.7bn to prison building, putting us on track to hit 14,000 places by 2031, we can't build our way out of this particular crisis we've inherited because demand for places will outstrip supply. So sentencing reform is necessary. In a letter to the Times, six police chiefs have warned that without 'serious investment' they will be unable to deliver on the prime minister's flagship pledges. The warning comes ahead of the government spending review, and they cautioned that cuts will lead to the 'retrenchment we saw under austerity'. Update: Date: 2025-05-28T07:48:28.000Z Title: Welcome and opening summary Content: Welcome to our rolling coverage of UK politics for Wednesday. Here are the headlines … Housing minister Matthew Pennycook has defended the government's record on prisons and sentencing in England and Wales after police chiefs warned that sentencing reforms could put pressure on frontline services The government has announced a package of measures it says is designed to streamline the planning system for small and medium sized housebuilders The Treasury is reported to be in a standoff with some ministers over proposed cuts to public services including policing and social housing Nigel Farage has been accused of leaving a multibillion-pound black hole at the heart of Reform UK's spending plans after unveiling a series of expensive policy pledges to be paid for by cutting nonexistent items of government spending The national water regulator Ofwat has fined Thames Water nearly £123m after two investigations into the company London mayor Sadiq Khan has called for partial decriminalisation of cannabis possession It is Martin Belam with you here. You can reach me at if you spot typos, errors or omissions, or have a question.
The Independent
23-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
I've spent decades inside prisons – here's how I'll fix them for good
I have spent decades in and out of this country's prisons. But I had never seen them as bad as they were when I became prisons minister, almost a year ago. The sad truth is that, on taking office, we inherited prisons that were so full, they were close to collapse. The consequences of this perilous position cannot be overstated. If prisons run out of space, courts are forced to halt their trials. Soon thereafter, the police must stop their arrests. While the idea is terrifying, it is far from fearmongering. This is the precise situation that senior police leaders warned the last government they faced. We took immediate action to stop the crisis on taking office. But we were always clear that our measures would only delay disaster, not end it. Safer streets are fundamental to our Plan for Change, and today we set out how we will, finally, end the crisis in our prisons. And let me be absolutely clear – that must start by building prisons. We are carrying out the largest expansion of the prison estate since the Victorians. We have already opened around 2,400 new places. And we will now invest £4.7 billion over the spending review period, putting us on track for our goal of 14,000 places by 2031. But even at this exceptional rate of construction, we must be honest. The prison population is soaring and we cannot build our way out of this crisis. By early 2028, we will be 9,500 places short. At the same time, it is clear our prisons need to do more to reduce reoffending. All too often, they create better criminals, not better citizens. Eighty percent of offenders are reoffenders, so we need to do things differently. David Gauke's sentencing review has now been published. It provides us with the reforms that can lead to better and more effective prisons, and that can end the cycle of crisis once and for all. The review has recommended a new earned release model. Good behaviour will be encouraged. Bad behaviour will mean offenders stay in custody for longer. This follows a model pioneered in Texas, one I have long admired. As a businessman, I know that incentives work. And this model creates incentives that have transformed prisons, cut crime, all while reducing their prison population. On leaving prison, offenders will now enter a period of intensive supervision in the community. Many more offenders will be put on electronic tags. Community sentences will be toughened and offenders will be made to do unpaid work to give back to the communities they've harmed – such as filling in potholes or cleaning up graffiti. Undoubtedly, this requires more investment. The Probation Service has been underfunded and overworked for far too long. I am proud to say that this is now changing. The government has announced a significant increase of up to £700 million in the Probation Service to better manage offenders in the community. The Gauke review also recommends a reduction in short prison sentences. Offenders who receive these short stays in prison are far too likely to reoffend today. So, while it's important that judges can hand down short sentences in exceptional circumstances, such as to protect victims in domestic abuse or stalking cases, in others we must ask whether there's a better way to make the public safer. So, we will look at expanding the use of intensive supervision courts, which focus relentlessly on the root causes of crime. This can include drug and alcohol treatment, and access to education and accommodation – all the things we know make offenders more likely to get on the straight and narrow. And these interventions are enforced by a court, with the prospect of prison keeping offenders on the right path. I have visited these courts many times before. It is clear to anyone who sees them in action that they turn offenders' lives around for good. And this government will look at every option to better protect the public from crime. That's why we have announced a wider rollout of medication to manage problematic sexual arousal. Chemical suppression has been used across Europe, including Germany, Denmark and Poland, in differing ways with positive results, and we will build an evidence base to see how these can improve public safety. Taken together, these proposals mark a step change in our approach to sentencing and, crucially, they will make sure we never return to the cliff edge on prison places. At the same time, they will mean the criminal justice system works to punish offenders and prevent more victims being created. All of this is crucial to achieving the safer streets we promised the public – and this government will do what it takes to deliver.
The Guardian
22-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
What are the ‘radical' proposed reforms to UK criminal sentencing?
A series of 'radical' proposed reforms to criminal sentencing have been submitted to ministers by the former justice secretary David Gauke, who has said that, if implemented, they should solve the UK's prison overcrowding problem. The government has confirmed that the majority of his suggestions will be recommendations. But what are they? Gauke's review suggests sentences of less than a year be ditched for most offences, calling on the government to legislate the reduction in their use. 'While short custodial sentences may serve as punishment, they often fall short in providing meaningful rehabilitation to offenders, have a limited deterrent effect and come with high costs,' the report said. The review said a major increase in the number of people being sentenced to jail terms of less than a year had driven the increase in the prison population overall. Gauke went further, suggesting judges be allowed to suspend sentences of as much as three years – up from the current limit of two – and that such measures be used more often. And it promotes beefing up confiscation orders and similar measures. Instead of the current system, in which Gauke said there is a mishmash of regimes determining when prisoners are released, he has proposed a standardised system in which good behaviour opens the door for earlier release. Conversely, bad behaviour would see others kept in for longer. He suggested that such measures be applied to standard custodial sentences – the most commonly handed down. The system would split the sentence into thirds: custody, post-custody and at-risk. The former would end after a third of the sentence had been served if the offender had behaved well; the second would involve intensive supervision. While the third would end active supervision, a person could return to prison if they committed a new offence. In the case of bad behaviour during the custody stage, Gauke suggested that the option of extending it to cover half of the sentence be available. Perhaps the most attention-grabbing measure proposed in the review is the promotion of a chemical castration programme for some sex offenders. It calls for a pilot programme already running in the south-west of England to be expanded, and for the government to study similar systems around the world. But Gauke was careful to stress that he understood such a programme would not be appropriate for all sexual offenders. He noted, for example, that power is a key driver in many cases, for which chemical castration should not be seen as an option. But the same package of measures also includes important proposals on how to treat female and older offenders equitably – for example, promoting release on compassionate grounds and funding women's centres. Rather than relying so heavily on custody, the review recommends an increased use of orders such as community service, a fine or a curfew, among other measures. 'The review received evidence, including from ex-offenders, of the ways in which community orders have enabled individuals to change their behaviour in the long term and desist from crime,' Gauke wrote. But he added: 'We have heard that it is already the case that judges and magistrates use community sentences less than they might do because of concerns about their delivery and enforcement. To deliver a shift away from custody to community sentences will require greater confidence in the effectiveness of community sentences. A disproportionate weight has been given to punishment over protecting victims and reducing crime in recent years, Gauke argued. The government should legislate to redress the balance. 'The current sentencing regime can be opaque and overly complex,' Gauke wrote. Ministers should consider a public messaging campaign to address misconceptions about how long offenders spend behind bars so that victims have a better understanding of the system. Gauke also applauded the provision of free copies of judge's sentencing remarks to victims of rape and serious sexual offences, and called for the scheme to be preserved. Some of the most effective means of rehabilitation are properly resourced probation services, as well as charities, Gauke argued. He suggested increasing funding to each to help build trusting relationships with offenders out on licence. Gauke's language was carefully measured not to place the blame for the overcrowding in prisons solely on the shoulders of one government. And he proposed measures to ensure that future governments do not dismantle his work – suggesting the creation of an independent advisory body, and the requirement for a government minister to report to parliament on how measures are expected to affect the prison population. The review suggested that technologies such 'digital identity verification, AI-driven decision-making and real-time data analytics' are already helping make other sectors more efficient – and should be deployed within the criminal justice system to free up resources to be used for more important tasks.
The Independent
22-05-2025
- Health
- The Independent
Chemical castration of sex offenders in regional pilot had ‘some success'
A pilot scheme of chemical castration of sex offenders in south-west England 'has had successful outcomes', a prison officers' union has said. The Government has accepted a proposal in the independent sentencing review to explore further use of medication to suppress the sex drive of offenders, currently being piloted in the region. A national rollout will begin in two regions covering 20 prisons in response to the review which called for the services to be piloted on a small scale. The Prison Officers' Association (POA) represents some healthcare staff who work in jails and a union boss said their members have 'not reported any difficulties when administering this medication' as part of the south-west trial. POA chairman Mark Fairhurst said: 'The POA have been fully briefed on the extension of this trial which has had some successful outcomes. 'We are not in a position to disclose which sites this medication will be extended to.' Under the review led by former justice secretary David Gauke, it recommended for ministers to build more evidence around the use of chemical suppression for sex offenders. It also highlighted the treatment would not be relevant for some sex offenders such as rapists driven by power and control, rather than sexual preoccupation. Chemical suppressants have been used in Germany and Denmark on a voluntary basis, and in Poland as mandatory for some offenders. The review said the medications are not widely used in prisons across England and Wales but are currently delivered in prisons through a national programme, jointly commissioned by the NHS and prison service, that provides 'psychologically informed' services for offenders with complex needs, and likely diagnosed with personality disorder. It was first piloted in the UK at HMP Whatton, in Nottingham, in 2007, and was rolled out to six more prisons in 2016. In 2022, the pilot scheme extended the treatment, called clinical management of sexual arousal, to five prisons in the south west of England. Chemical suppressants include hormonal drugs, anti-androgens, which can be prescribed to reduce libido, and non-hormonal drugs such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), which can be used to reduce compulsive sexual thoughts. The review said: 'Only medical specialists can prescribe these medications and they should only be used in conjunction with other psycho-social treatment and support, for example, to aid individuals to engage fully with these interventions. 'Before any decision is made to establish further services for chemical suppression across England and Wales, services must be piloted on a small scale with evaluations produced. 'Various considerations, such as side effects and potential ramifications for victims, will need to be examined.' The review also called for the need to research international use of the method to look at 'ethical and practical' implications, adding: 'As gaining valid, informed consent to a course of treatment is a key tenet of medical law and ethics in England and Wales.' On Thursday, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood confirmed the Government is also exploring whether some criminals could be forced to take the medical treatment. She told the Commons that existing studies show a 60% reduction in offending, and it would be for a subset of sex offenders where the combination of chemical suppressants and psychological interventions can 'have a big and positive impact'. 'For many years there's a pilot that has been trundling along and nobody has shown much interest in it, including any of my predecessors,' she said. 'I'm not squeamish about taking these further measures. 'It's why we're going to have a national rollout of this programme … so that we can build the evidence base and make sure that we are using every tool at our disposal that can cut reoffending.' The Government has not yet confirmed which regions or prisons will be part of the pilot scheme. But reacting to the announcement, Prison Reform Trust chief executive Pia Sinha said forcing medical treatment raises 'clear ethical considerations' which could put medical practitioners in an 'invidious' position. She said: 'Medical interventions to address the behaviour of people convicted of sexual offences only applies to particular types of offending – it must not be seen as a panacea. 'Any treatment that targets its use needs to be strictly risk-assessed by medical experts rather than ministers. 'Forcing people to have medical treatment raises clear ethical considerations and would also place medical practitioners in an invidious position.'
The Guardian
22-05-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Justice secretary considering mandatory chemical castration for some sex offenders
Shabana Mahmood told MPs she would expand a pilot scheme using medication to manage 'problematic sexual arousal' in offenders across 20 prisons in two regions. She said she was exploring making the approach mandatory for the most serious sex offenders. In response to a question, she said that studies had found chemical castration could lead to a 60% reduction in offending
