Stop sending crooks to jail the place they get ‘college of crime’, ministers advised

Inmates serving quick jail sentences too typically get a “university course in crime”, a brand new report calling on fewer individuals to be despatched to jail says.

Ministers have been urged to plough additional cash into rehabilitation and make higher use of neighborhood sentences, with the jail system at “crisis point”. A report by the cross-party Lords Justice and Home Affairs Committee stated quick spells behind bars could make issues worse.

Committee chairwoman Baroness Hamwee stated: “Prisons are at crisis point. Places are simply not available. Yet it is well-known that a short time in custody too often schools someone in how to be a ‘better’ criminal. The Government acknowledges all this.

“If the disaster is considered a possibility to give attention to the way to make the very best use of neighborhood orders, their potential will be realised, to the good thing about particular person offenders and of the neighborhood.”

She said the use of community sentences has dropped dramatically in the past 10 years – adding that if used well these can “flip individuals’s lives round”. Peers said prisons were at a “crucial level”, at 99% of their capacity with many in an “extraordinarily poor situation”.

Earlier this month, Justice Secretary Alex Chalk was forced to confirm he would consider tougher community sentences. It came amid concerns proposed reforms will result in offenders escaping punishment.

He has unveiled plans to address prison overcrowding by suspending most prison sentences below a year – with increased use of electronic tags. But the move has sparked anger, with former Home Secretary Suella Braverman saying this would make thousands more likely to reoffend.

The Lords report said crime “will be decreased by way of rigorous sentences served in the neighborhood”. It demanded more funding for rehabilitation programmes.