Why do we have such overcrowded prisons?

The Briefing Room

BBC

News, News Commentary

4.8 • 731 Ratings

🗓️ 21 November 2024

⏱️ 28 minutes

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Summary

Our prisons are overcrowded, the Government recently released a group of prisoners early to ease the pressure. Britain seems to incarcerate more people per head of population compared to any other Western European country. Now the Government has announced there is going to be a Review of Sentencing to see what we can do to reduce the number of people in prison.

Recently an eight week consultation period began, during which members of the public can send in their thoughts on how to tackle these issues.

Why have prisons have become so over-crowded, and what we can do about it?

John Podmore, former prison governor and prison inspector and author of Out of Sight Out of Mind: Why Britain's Prisons Are Failing Nicola Padfield, Emeritus Professor of Criminal and Penal Justice, at the University of Cambridge Catherine Heard, Director of the World Prison Research Programme, Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Crime & Justice Policy Research, Birkbeck, University of London

Presenter: David Aaronovitch Producers: Charlotte McDonald, Kirsteen Knight and Beth Ashmead Latham Sound engineers: Rod Farquhar, Neva Missirian Editor: Richard Vadon Production Co-ordinator: Gemma Ashman

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts.
0:08.5	Our prisons are so overcrowded, the government recently released a group of prisoners early to ease the pressure.
0:15.7	This was what Sir Humphrey and yes minister might call a brave decision.
0:21.0	Britain seems to incarcerate more people behead of population than any other Western European
0:26.1	country. Now the government has announced there's going to be a review of sentencing to see what
0:31.2	we can do to reduce the number of people in prison. Very recently, an eight-week consultation
0:36.6	period began, during which members of the public can send in their thoughts on how to tackle these issues.
0:42.3	So, let's try and contribute to the review by asking here, why are prisons so overcrowded and what can we do about it?
0:50.4	Step into the briefing room and together we'll find out.
0:58.2	Thank you. Step into the briefing room and together we'll find out. First, some carefully curated key stats from the briefing room's Charlotte MacDonald.
1:03.4	As of March 2024, the UK had a total prison population of approximately 97,700 people. That's an increase of nearly 20% over the last 20
1:14.8	years. Since the Second World War, the prison population had been increasing, but from the mid-1990s,
1:21.5	it started to grow more sharply until 2015. It flattened off, then during the pandemic, it dipped. But since then, it started to rise again.
1:32.7	The prison services are run separately in England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
1:38.3	As of March 24, there were approximately 134 prisoners per 100,000 of the population in England and Wales,
1:47.1	just slightly more in Scotland with 136 per 100,000 and lower in Northern Ireland with just 88 per 100,000.
1:55.8	Looking at England and Wales in more detail, prison sentences have got longer.
2:00.3	This means that the proportion of
2:01.8	people given sentences of four years or more has been going up, while the proportion of those
2:07.3	serving less than a year has been going down. Around a third of all those given sentences
2:13.4	were for offences classed as violence against the person.
2:21.5	Sexual offences was the second highest category for adults at one in five.
	...

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