Britain should make “greater use of open prisons” to avoid overcrowding and reduce recidivism, the man leading the government’s sentencing reform has suggested.
David Gauke told the Times that “we are running out of space” in prisons and that there is “an opportunity” for the system to change if prisoners are given more freedom to leave prison to study and work during the day.
The former Conservative justice minister has been called in by the government to review the conviction and tackle overcrowding.
His comments follow visits to three prisons in Spain, where reforms have placed 25% of prisoners in open prisons.
He said the policy has saved money and better prepared prisoners for release, making them less likely to reoffend.
Gauke served as Justice Minister in Theresa May’s cabinet between January 2018 and July 2019.
Earlier this year he was appointed to lead a government review of sentencing, which is expected to consider scrapping short sentences and tightening community rules as an alternative to prison.
The review was a Labor manifesto promise and the party has also appointed Lord Timpson, former head of the key chain that hires ex-offenders and head of the Prison Reform Trust, as prisons minister.
“I think there is increasing recognition that we have gone down a path of increasing penalties in such a way that it does nothing to reduce crime, but it does come at a significant cost,” Gauke told the Times.
“It’s not about being soft on crime, it’s about reducing crime more effectively.”
The government has already released 5,500 prisoners under an emergency plan to free up cells and prevent the collapse of the justice system, and has also announced a sentencing review aimed at imposing more non-custodial sentences.
The policy will be reviewed in 18 months.
The Justice Department has pledged to find a total of 14,000 cell spaces in prisons by 2031.
Around 6,400 of these will be placed in newly built prisons, at a cost of £2.3 billion over the next two years.
But earlier in December, Justice Minister Shabana Mahmood told BBC Radio 4’s Today program that building more prisons will not solve the overcrowding crisis.
Asked whether the estate would run out of cells within three years, even with an extra 14,000 places, Mahmood said: “We will run out because even all that new supply, with the increase in the prison population that we will see as a result, new Supply won’t help you meet rising demand, because demand is still rising faster than any supply could keep up with.”
Gauke has also said that building more prisons is not the solution and that a more ‘strategic’ approach is needed to free up space.
It is expected that the criminal review will make recommendations in the spring.
