Britain the lock-up capital of Europe
By Philip Johnston and Graeme Wilson
29/01/2007
Prisons in England and Wales (but not Scotland and Northern Ireland which have separate penal systems) lock up more people per head of the population than any other major country in Europe.
Figures published today show an incarceration rate of 148 per 100,000, higher than any western EU member apart from Luxembourg.
The incarceration rate in England and Wales has risen to 148 per 100,000 of the population, prompting calls for community sentences to become a ‘genuine’ alternative to prison.
The proportion has risen dramatically under Labour from about 120 per 100,000 when the party took office almost 10 years ago.
The figures emerged as senior Labour MPs joined opposition politicians and penal reformers to demand urgent action on the overcrowded prison system.
John Reid, the Home Secretary, has faced criticism after the Government issued advice to judges last week reminding them to consider overcrowding when passing sentence.
John Denham, the former Labour Home Office minister who now chairs the Commons home affairs select committee, said changes were needed to convince the public that community sentences were a genuine alternative to prison.
"The problem is this: things that aren't prison aren't seen as a punishment. That's why the public aren't satisfied with it, that's why the courts aren't satisfied with it.
Frankly we have got to make community punishments a much more demanding and onerous punishment on individuals," he told Sky News.
His argument was echoed by Harriet Harman, the constitutional affairs minister, who conceded that the Government needed to "build confidence" in non-custodial sentences.
But there was support for Mr Reid from Margaret Beckett, the Foreign Secretary.
"The Home Office does, unfortunately, go through these terrible phases from time to time and this is one of them. It'll come out the other side and so will John Reid," she told BBC1's Sunday AM.
While England and Wales's incarceration rate is 148 per 100,000, today's figures show rates of 95 in Germany, 85 in France, 104 in Italy and 128 in Holland. Only Spain among the larger EU countries rivals Britain, with 145.
The position is also worse than the rest of the UK. Northern Ireland has a rate of 84 and Scotland 139. The new EU arrivals from eastern Europe have higher rates, with 333 in Estonia and 230 in Poland.
The World Prisons list, by the International Centre for Prison Studies at King's College, London, shows America (the so-called Land of the Free) as the country with the highest rate with 738 per 100,000 of the population, followed by Russia with 611.
What the figures do not show, is the rate of imprisonment compared to the number of crimes committed.
Recent studies indicate that in Britain only about 12 people are in prison for every 1,000 recorded crimes compared to 48 in Spain and 33 in Ireland, which undermines Government efforts to say the jails are full because they are being tough on criminals.
Critics say it is because they did not plan for a surge caused by keeping serious offenders inside indefinitely.
Despite the prison increase, the historically-high crime rate means that a convict has a far better chance of avoiding jail than used to be the case. In 1954, one in three robberies led to a jail sentence; today, the ratio is one in 22. For burglaries, the differential is greater with one in 18 in 1954 compared with one in 59 now.
According to one study, if Britain imprisoned the same ratio of people today that it did 50 years ago, there would be 290,000 people in prison.
Across the world, about nine million people are in jail in 211 countries. Almost half this total are held in the prisons of only three countries — the US, Russia and China.
Frances Crook, of the Howard League for Penal Reform, called for more effective community sentences.
"We've had more victims and more crime as a result of locking up too many people in prisons who don't need to be there," she said.
However Lord Mackenzie, the Labour peer and former president of the Police Superintendants' Association, said it was important that serious offenders were locked up. "It's the Government's job to find the places for them," he said.
telegraph.co.uk
By Philip Johnston and Graeme Wilson
29/01/2007
Prisons in England and Wales (but not Scotland and Northern Ireland which have separate penal systems) lock up more people per head of the population than any other major country in Europe.
Figures published today show an incarceration rate of 148 per 100,000, higher than any western EU member apart from Luxembourg.
The incarceration rate in England and Wales has risen to 148 per 100,000 of the population, prompting calls for community sentences to become a ‘genuine’ alternative to prison.
The proportion has risen dramatically under Labour from about 120 per 100,000 when the party took office almost 10 years ago.
The figures emerged as senior Labour MPs joined opposition politicians and penal reformers to demand urgent action on the overcrowded prison system.
John Reid, the Home Secretary, has faced criticism after the Government issued advice to judges last week reminding them to consider overcrowding when passing sentence.
John Denham, the former Labour Home Office minister who now chairs the Commons home affairs select committee, said changes were needed to convince the public that community sentences were a genuine alternative to prison.
"The problem is this: things that aren't prison aren't seen as a punishment. That's why the public aren't satisfied with it, that's why the courts aren't satisfied with it.
Frankly we have got to make community punishments a much more demanding and onerous punishment on individuals," he told Sky News.
His argument was echoed by Harriet Harman, the constitutional affairs minister, who conceded that the Government needed to "build confidence" in non-custodial sentences.
But there was support for Mr Reid from Margaret Beckett, the Foreign Secretary.
"The Home Office does, unfortunately, go through these terrible phases from time to time and this is one of them. It'll come out the other side and so will John Reid," she told BBC1's Sunday AM.
While England and Wales's incarceration rate is 148 per 100,000, today's figures show rates of 95 in Germany, 85 in France, 104 in Italy and 128 in Holland. Only Spain among the larger EU countries rivals Britain, with 145.
The position is also worse than the rest of the UK. Northern Ireland has a rate of 84 and Scotland 139. The new EU arrivals from eastern Europe have higher rates, with 333 in Estonia and 230 in Poland.
The World Prisons list, by the International Centre for Prison Studies at King's College, London, shows America (the so-called Land of the Free) as the country with the highest rate with 738 per 100,000 of the population, followed by Russia with 611.
What the figures do not show, is the rate of imprisonment compared to the number of crimes committed.
Recent studies indicate that in Britain only about 12 people are in prison for every 1,000 recorded crimes compared to 48 in Spain and 33 in Ireland, which undermines Government efforts to say the jails are full because they are being tough on criminals.
Critics say it is because they did not plan for a surge caused by keeping serious offenders inside indefinitely.
Despite the prison increase, the historically-high crime rate means that a convict has a far better chance of avoiding jail than used to be the case. In 1954, one in three robberies led to a jail sentence; today, the ratio is one in 22. For burglaries, the differential is greater with one in 18 in 1954 compared with one in 59 now.
According to one study, if Britain imprisoned the same ratio of people today that it did 50 years ago, there would be 290,000 people in prison.
Across the world, about nine million people are in jail in 211 countries. Almost half this total are held in the prisons of only three countries — the US, Russia and China.
Frances Crook, of the Howard League for Penal Reform, called for more effective community sentences.
"We've had more victims and more crime as a result of locking up too many people in prisons who don't need to be there," she said.
However Lord Mackenzie, the Labour peer and former president of the Police Superintendants' Association, said it was important that serious offenders were locked up. "It's the Government's job to find the places for them," he said.
telegraph.co.uk