Are UK prisons full? Steve Barclay fails to deny that judges told not to sentence convicted criminals

A senior Cabinet minister failed to deny reports that judges have been told not to delay sentencing criminals due to prisons nearing capacity.

The Health Secretary Steve Barclay told broadcasters that Justice Secretary Alex Chalk will address the issue in a statement to the Commons on Monday. Lord Edis, the senior presiding judge in England and Wales, has ordered the sentencing of convicted criminals currently on bail to be delayed from Monday, The Times has reported.

Rapists and burglars could be among those whose sentencing is put off, the newspaper said, is due to the prison system reaching near capacity. The UK’s prison population has increased substantially since the Covid pandemic in 2020 and, according to the latest figures, there are now 88,016 prisoners. As of 6 October, capacity across the whole prison estate stood at 88,667.

The Criminal Bar Association, which represents barristers, said that there are now just 124 places, as the prison population has passed 88,100. CBA chair Tana Adkin KC said: "Some violent offenders and thieves have already been spared jail and instead handed sentences in the community."

In May, a union source told NationalWorld there is “literally no space in prisons” at the moment public or private, and the Prison Officers’ Association warned of widespread burnout among staff. There have been reports prisoners are sharing cells and being moved around the country at short notice.

Asked on Sky News if the reports are true, Barclay said: “It’s a longstanding convention ministers don’t comment on leaks. The Lord Chancellor will make a statement to Parliament on Monday.”

Pressed over whether prisons are full, he conceded “they’re under huge pressure”. But he said that is the case in “many countries”, adding it is due to the Government ensuring prisoners are in jail “for longer” and because of “pressures as a result of Covid”.

He also told the programme: “We have an absolute commitment to protect the public.” He told broadcasters the judiciary makes independent decisions on sentencing but insisted the Government is overseeing the “fastest rollout of prison places”.

Andrea Albut, president of the Prison Governors’ Association, recently told The Daily Telegraph that jails in England and Wales are “bust” of space, saying male facilities are running at more than 99.6% capacity and women’s are 96% full.

The Times quoted an anonymous senior judge as saying they had been “ordered/strongly encouraged” not to send to prison a defendant who appears before them on bail due to concerns the prison system is at capacity.

The Judicial Office, which supports the judiciary, said it would not comment on what was said during an internal meeting. The independent body said it could not confirm whether new guidance on sentencing had been issued to judges.

Labour’s shadow justice secretary Shabana Mahmood said: “After 13 years of failure with the Conservatives, we are now seeing the serious repercussions of continuously ignoring the warnings on the broken criminal justice system and a prison estate in chaos.

“The Tories are unable to get rapists behind bars and now the public know why. People up and down will be asking: if this government can’t fulfil the basic duty of keeping criminals locked up, why are they still the government?”

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “The criminal justice system has seen unprecedented growth in the prison population, following the pandemic and barristers’ strike, particularly among those awaiting trial, with 6,000 more prisoners on remand than pre-pandemic.

“The Prison Service has already put in place measures such as rapid deployment cells and doubling up cells to help manage these pressures, and the Government is carrying out the biggest prison building campaign since the Victorian era to build 20,000 new places, making sure we always have the places we need.”

Richard Miller, head of justice at the Law Society of England and Wales, said: “The prison spaces crisis is a consequence of the government’s approach to justice including over a decade of underfunding.”

While Ms Adkin KC, chair of the CBA, said judges would still follow sentencing guidelines for serious offences like violence or sexual violence that require immediate custody.

But she warned that prison overcrowding has reached a critical point in terms of judges managing ongoing cases.

“The current crisis is symptomatic after more than 15 years of disjointed central planning and underfunding for those tasked with delivering justice in our courts and keeping the public safe within our prison estate,” she said. “Judges, barristers and solicitors continue working hard to ensure justice is delivered and safe outcomes for victims despite the acute strains on the prison and courts system.

“The overriding duty of any government is to safeguard its citizens from harm. Judges will continue to uphold that basic principle when faced with the current challenges our criminal justice system is experiencing.

“The management of cases, however, is especially difficult with diminished resources and with prison overcrowding that has reached a critical point.

“If we want prison sentences to work, we must have the capacity to punish wrongdoers, deter others and rehabilitate offenders who are imprisoned at great cost to the taxpayer as well as themselves and their families.”

As NationalWorld revealed, the Community trade union wrote to the Justice Secretary Alex Chalk earlier this year, expressing concern about staff safety.

Roy Rickhuss expressed “serious concerns” regarding assaults on staff across the sector, citing research from a report by Community, which found that one in four justice, custodial and immigration sector workers have been assaulted at work at least once in the last year. 

Community primarily represents staff at the 14 prisons which are run by private contractors such as G4S, as well as workers at immigration centres such as Yarl's Wood