Is Labour’s early release from prison plan ‘sticking plaster politics’?
The new government is planning to announce measures to prevent the imminent collapse of the justice system – but is Labour’s early release from prison plan ‘sticking plaster politics’?
Keir Starmer used that phrase to describe Tory policies – but now his government is planning to push through a Tory plan to address overcrowding in our full-to-bursting prisons, doesn’t it apply to him as well?
Labour’s manifesto includes plans to build more prisons and prevent re-offending – but those are both long-term ambitions.
Right now, prisons are almost full to capacity, there is a backlog of criminal trials waiting to be heard, and judges have been asked to delay sentencing.
According to the BBC,
In March, the then justice secretary Alex Chalk announced plans for some prisoners to be released up to two months early.
But Mr Chalk, who lost his seat at the general election, told the Today podcast there were also plans to go further and release some prisoners after 40% of their sentence … and to send fewer people to jail in the first place.
Rishi Sunak refused to sign it off and the election was called before the issue was resolved.
Now, new justice secretary Shabana Mahmood is set to bring in the same measures.
Isn’t that exactly the kind of “sticking plaster politics” that Starmer used to bemoan – a temporary and unsatisfying short-term fix for a long-term challenge? And didn’t Starmer get himself elected on a promise to “Change” all that?
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To address this properly two things need to happen. More prison spaces ie building and renovation and secondly better sentencing (not just long custodial sentences for the sake of it) These require legislation and implementation and therefore will take more than a year or two. In the meantime the options are to continue as they are and ultimately cause there to be prisoners who are unable to take a place in prison regardless of danger to the public.
Of course that’s all a bit dramatic. No one would let it get that far, surely? I mean they’d take some kind of emergency measures to make sure that this didn’t happen, wouldn’t they?
I haven’t voted Labour and wouldn’t consider doing so unless they actually revert to REAL Labour policies but, in this case, their short term measures are the only ones available. Of course we’ll need to see if they actually take any longer term measures whatsoever. I doubt it..