Labour could make Britain’s prison crisis worse

On Saturday night, Labour announced its plans to ‘fix the prison crisis and keep criminals behind bars’. If this announcement is the full extent of Labour’s prison policy, then disaster awaits them in government.

At least Labour seems to recognise some of the problems. They point out that as a result of overcrowding our prisons are a ‘powder keg waiting to explode’, and that the early release scheme, under which prisoners are being released up to 70 days early, is ‘creating a potential risk to the public’. They point out that one inmate was freed early despite being ‘a risk to children’. Labour is also right that the Tories’ mismanagement of prisons over the past 14 years is the reason police are being instructed to ‘arrest fewer criminals and deliberately delay court hearings’. The Opposition recognises that our prisons often make inmates worse, being ‘breeding grounds for crime’, with reoffending costing at least £18 billion a year.

Labour believes that the Tories haven’t built prison places fast enough, delivering only 6,000 of the 20,000 new places they promised by the end of next year.