Prisons will run out of space within days, putting the overall public safety at risk, the Prison Governors’ Association (PGA) has warned.
The union has called on policymakers to take immediate action to address the lack of space in jails and the lack of sustained long-term investment in the prison system. Failure to do so will result in prisons running out of space within days and an increased risk to public safety within weeks, the PGA said.
“As available spaces continue to dwindle away, prisons will be forced to close their gates to new prisoners, they will be full within a matter of days. Procrastination is not an option; this is happening now, and action is overdue. Eventually, there will be nowhere for detained prisoners to go,” the PGA letter to political leaders said.
The association said that the government’s End of Custody Supervised Licence Scheme (ECSL), which allows for early release of eligible prisoners, has been exhausted in England and Wales.
Under the scheme, meant to ease overcrowding in jails, certain prisoners are allowed to be released up to 70 days before the end of their sentence.
“We do not believe there are any other temporary solutions available to delay the inevitable,” said the PGA.
It warned that UK streets will become less safe and the police will be forced to prioritise who to arrest and detain. Meanwhile, the PGA added, the court backlog will continue to rise.
Call for Immediate Action
According to the latest Ministry of Justice (MoJ) figures, jails in England and Wales currently hold 87,395 inmates, while the useable capacity stands at 88,778. The MoJ expects the prison population to increase to between 94,600 and 114,800 by March 2028.The government’s prison expansion programme aims to create 20,000 new prison places by the mid-2020s.
Ministers have also been exploring the option of moving prisoners to another country’s prison estate, provided the facilities, regime, and rehabilitation meet British standards. The proposals are part of the Criminal Justice Bill, currently making its way through Parliament.
The PGA believes that austerity measures have exacerbated the prison system crisis and hit the MoJ and prisons hard.
Lack of funding, ageing infrastructure and increasingly transient populations are among the issues faced by the prison system, according to the Chief Inspector of Prisons Charlie Taylor.
Mr. Taylor has opposed the government’s ECSL, saying it undermines safe release planning. However, the PGA has argued that an immediate change in law is needed to routinely release prisoners at the 40 percent mark of their sentence.
“Although not ideal, it will be far safer to release prisoners earlier from custody than to be in a position where the police and courts have nowhere to send even the most serious offenders. This will happen and the public will be put at increased risk,” the association said.
It called on the new government, following the July 4 general election, to address the prison capacity concerns “without delay.”
“The position we find ourselves in is not of our members making; successive governments have failed to ensure sufficient resourced space exists across the prison estate. This is shameful,” said the PGA.
It added that an uncrowded prison system should have no more than about 78,000 people in custody.
The Conservative Party manifesto pledge promises four new prisons to complete its prison-building programme by 2030.
Labour has pledged to deliver 20,000 jailed places and classify prisons as being of “national importance” on public safety grounds to take control of the planning process.
