The UK Parliament’s Justice and Home Affairs Committee published an inquiry Thursday that suggested alternative methods must be put in place to reduce reoffending and the strain on Probation Service in England and Wales. As prisons are currently at 99 percent capacity, the report examined how an increased focus on community orders could be effective in tackling the issue.
The committee launched the “‘Cutting crime: better community sentences” inquiry in May after they were “struck by the considerable decline in the use of community orders.” The committee stated they believe such orders could be “an essential tool in managing the prison population.” According to evidence from the National Audit Office, as of October 13, prisons held 88,225 people, which is 557 people below the absolute maximum. It is estimated that the prison population will rise to 94,400 by March 2025. Other issues identified by the committee were staff shortages in the Probation Service and the resulting “unmanageable caseloads.”
Although the UK government intended to build 20,000 in their 2021 Prison Strategy, the committee put forward alternative solutions in their report in order to avoid potential overcrowding issues and to ease pressure on prison services. They suggested that community sentences could be a “key sentencing option” in order to “address the rehabilitative needs of offenders, and to meet the expectations of the public that offenders are punished.” Community sentences are an alternative punishment to imprisonment often given for low-level crimes and first time offenders. The report also highlighted their flexibility, as they can be tailored to individual offenders, and their cost effectiveness, as a community sentences typically costs less than a prison sentence. Additionally, custody often “fuels reoffending” when criminals are consistently given short prison sentences. The report suggested community sentences are a better alternative as “[t]hey are demanding on the offender and help them stop committing crime.”
Other recommendations from the committee included further investment in rehabilitation and mental health and alcohol and drug treatment places for offenders. The committee also suggested creating “incentives to encourage low-level, repeat offenders to engage with rehabilitation.” They also encouraged the Probation Service to place more trust in the expert organizations who provide such treatment.
Commenting on the report, Chair of the Justice and Home Affairs Committee Baroness Hamwee stated, “The dots must be joined up. 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.” She further stated, “[T]hey need commitment from Government” for the “full potential” of their recommendations to be realized.
