Issue 315  14th October 2023

Alex Chalk is to meet senior officials from the justice system and will set out a programme of reform following reports that sentencing could be delayed in some cases due to prisons nearing capacity. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said he was taking the step to “ensure that we can continue to strengthen public protection by locking up the most dangerous criminals”.

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. The UK’s prison population has increased substantially since the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and, according to the latest figures, there are now 88,016 prisoners. As of October 6, capacity across the whole prison estate stood at 88,667.

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...

Criminals could get more than a third off their prison sentences by pleading guilty under plans being considered by ministers to tackle the court backlog and prison crisis. Ministers are considering increasing the sentence “discount” which reduces the time convicted offenders spend in prison the earlier they plead guilty. All criminals would be eligible apart from murderers who are subject to mandatory life sentences with minimum terms set by judges.

The maximum discount currently available is a third, if offenders plead guilty at their first hearing, but under the proposals it could be increased to as much as 40 per cent. The discount tapers off on a sliding scale the longer they delay a plea, to a quarter off at a second hearing and a tenth off if left to the first day of their trial. Such a move could have a significant impact in incentivising criminals to accept their guilt, removing the need for lengthy trials and speeding up the reduction of the record 65,000-case backlog. It could combat suspects who play the system by holding off on a plea in the hope that trial delays encourage their victim to drop out. The move is likely to receive the backing of Sir Max Hill KC, Director of Public Prosecutions, who in a speech this week said: “We should consider whether we can go any further in discounting sentences in an early guilty plea.”

Alex Chalk, the Justice Secretary, is expected to unveil plans on Monday to tackle the overcrowding crisis by releasing more prisoners early and sparing criminals facing shorter prison sentences from going to jail. Ministers plan to extend the scheme where prisoners can be released early on home detention curfews. The scheme will be extended to allow prisoners serving sentences under four years to be freed on tags and under curfew up to nine months and possibly a year before their release date. Separately, hundreds of offenders assessed as “low risk” will be freed around two weeks before their automatic release date under licence, mirroring a similar arrangement in 2007 when the Labour government was forced to free some 36,000 prisoners when it ran out of jail space.

Ministers are also seeking to reduce the number of prisoners held on remand, currently a record 15,500 and accounting for nearly a fifth of the entire prison population. Judges could be advised to take account of the overcrowding when deciding whether to grant bail. They have already spared some offenders jail after a ruling that they could weigh overcrowding in their sentencing decisions...

A men's prison in south-west London has been deemed "unsafe and inhumane", a watchdog report has warned. HMP Wandsworth has seen "no real progress" in the past year and reflects "the failures of the prison system as a whole", its Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) said. The report was written before the alleged escape of Daniel Khalife from the prison.

A Prison Service spokesperson said it had taken "decisive action" to address the "serious issues" raised. The IMB report covers the year from 1 June 2022 to 31 May 2023. It found that years of underinvestment in the site, facilities and staff at the prison had led to an unsafe environment where "violence levels continue to rise". The report stated that during the past year, staff shortages had undermined the prison's ability to function effectively, with the number of available officers rarely reaching above 50%...

Hull Crown Court is to be "urgently" fumigated to rid it of fleas, officials have said. HM Courts and Tribunals Service confirmed affected areas were closed on Monday, with pest controllers due to visit on Tuesday.

Affected hearings would be rescheduled "at the earliest opportunity", a spokesperson said. One Hull pest controller said the infestation would be "hard to get under control" as the building was so busy. A spokesperson for HM Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service said: "We are working urgently to resolve the issue - the site remains open but affected areas have been closed off. Any hearings impacted will be rescheduled at the earliest opportunity."

An independent review into disclosure and fraud, led by Jonathan Fisher KC, has launched to make it quicker and easier to bring criminals to justice... The independent review will consider how the disclosure regime is working in the digital age and whether fraud law meets the challenges of modern offending, including whether the penalties are proportionate to the impact of the crime...

The review will ensure that the criminal justice system keeps pace with the evolving nature of fraud and online crimes. Fraud and complex crimes generate masses of digital material, placing a strain on investigations and increasing the time it takes to bring cases to court. By addressing the volume and nature of material subject to disclosure and looking at international best practice, the review will make it quicker and easier to bring criminals to court, delivering swifter justice to victims.

Punishment for fraud offences will also be reviewed to assess whether the penalties reflect the severity of the crime and the devastating impact it has on lives and livelihoods. The need for a new fraud specific civil power will also be considered to further disrupt fraudsters...