Half of prisons overcrowded, report finds
More than half of prisons in England and Wales are overcrowded, according to figures obtained by the Prison Reform Trust.
The campaign group warns more than 10,000 people are held in the prison system than there is capacity for, with 15 jails full beyond even their safe overcrowding limit.
And in a report published this weekend, the trust says conditions are getting worse, with more than 17,000 prisoners now held two to a cell built for one.
It notes the 26 self-inflicted deaths in custody since the beginning of June, of which 24 have taken place in overcrowded prisons, and warns the problem warrants urgent attention.
“This level of overcrowding poses a real and serious danger to prison and public safety,” said Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust.
She added: “The terrible correlation between overcrowding and deaths in custody demands urgent investigation.”
Ms Lyon accused the government of having grown complacent about the problem of overcrowding, warning that the continued growth in the prison population during the summer – usually the quietest months of the year – is an indication of a serious problem.
New Home Office figures, she claimed, suggest the prison population could go as high as 90,000 by the end of the decade.
“Massive prison growth will not end of its own accord. It will take a concerted effort to reserve prison for serious and violent offenders and to invest in drug treatment, mental healthcare and safe, effective alternatives to custody,” she said.
“Right now, the prison population is mushrooming out of control, and the government is still trying hopelessly to build its way out of a crisis.”
Lucie Russell, director of SmartJustice, added: “There is nothing smart about stacking up prisoners in overcrowded jails. It leads to more, not less, offending on release. It is not tough on crime, it is tough on the rest of us.”
However, the Home Office said the figures were misleading and dismissed claims that safety limits had been breached.
“Prisons may exceed their certified normal accommodation, the figure at which the prison operates comfortably, but we do not operate above the operational capacity,” a spokeswoman said.
“On some occasions prisons are listed as having populations higher than their operational capacity.
“The reason is most often attributed to the fact [that] a prisoner or a number of prisoners are absent on authorised absences, such as when a prisoner is recorded as part of an establishment’s population but is held outside, for example in hospital or on release on temporary licence.”
