The problem with prison

The former prime minister Sir John Major has suggested the UK need not be banging up quite so many people. Lamenting the highest incarceration rates in western Europe, Sir John said he found it ‘hard to believe we British are uniquely criminal’. Of particular concern, he argued, was the sheer volume of non-violent offenders who end up behind bars: of the 43,000 people imprisoned between 2021 and 2022, more than 60 per cent had committed crimes with no element of violence. Sir John questioned whether custody was the correct disposal in all of those cases. 

It’s easy to criticise the elder statesman as bleeding-heart and out-of-touch. His views are at odds with public opinion and run counter to our punitive instincts when we hear about terrible crimes and seemingly lenient sentences. Even The Spectator, a journal of the metropolitan right, has published two pieces in recent days heaping opprobrium on the former prime minister.