Law Weblog

10,000 prisoners have been freed

Sunday 25 November 2007 at 9:19 am | In News | 1 Comment

More than 10,000 prisoners have been freed under an early-release scheme since June. 300 have been put back because they breached the terms of their release of for re-offending.

Later this week the government will announce the recommendations of the Carter Report into the prison system. He is expected to recommend:
• prisoners sentenced to less than six months only serve their time if there is room for them in jail;
• a two-tier system, with “federal prisons” for high-risk offenders and “community prisons” for the rest;
• closure of 15 women’s jails, to be replaced by smaller secure units.

Last week the prison population stood at 81,454, down slightly from the record of 81,547 set the previous week. There were 197 convicts being held in police cells because jails were full.

Next week, the Ministry of Justice will disclose the number of foreign nationals in English and Welsh prisons and the average length of prison sentences handed out last year.

Telegraph article, here