Britain is running out of prisons.
Criminal courts in England and Wales have been ordered to postpone sentencing hearings next week due to prison overcrowding, as reported by The times. The news outlet also reported that government officials are considering the early release of current inmates to ease pressure on prison facilities.
According to the newspaper, Lord Justice Edis, the senior presiding judge for England and Wales, has ordered the sentencing of convicted criminals currently on bail to be postponed until Monday.
A senior Crown Court judge said judges have been “ordered/strongly encouraged” not to send defendants on bail to prison to prevent the prison population from increasing. The judge said: “We have been told this is a ‘short-term measure’ but no one knows what that means.”
When discussing sex offenders, the judge expressed concern about the possibility of individuals accused of historical rape, rape involving a child under the age of 13, and other sex crimes being released on bail even if found guilty. The judge asked questions and said, “What am I going to do if a jury finds someone guilty [of rape]? Should I release that person, who has now been convicted, into the community where the victim could see him or her? What will the victim think?”
From The Metro NewsLast Friday, the prison population in England and Wales stood at 88,016, just 654 short of estimated capacity, according to Ministry of Justice figures.
The government’s promise to build 20,000 new prisons, a key Conservative pledge in the 2019 election, has been quietly abandoned. Plans for three new prisons in Lancashire, Leicestershire and Buckinghamshire have all been postponed due to planning permission issues. Justice Minister Alex Chalk put forward a possible solution at the annual Conservative Party conference last week.
