UK Prisons are full and the government have considered pop up prisons among other ideas to deal with the crumbling justice system.
Last week the prison population rose to 88,016, an increase of more than 6,500 in a year and almost 10,000 up on two years ago.
Two-thirds of prisons in England and Wales are officially overcrowded.
Rapists
Justice Secretary Alex Chalk is set to unveil a series of reforms to sentencing today amid claims judges have been told to delay sentencing violent offenders like rapists because there is nowhere to put them.
Writing in the Sunday Telegraph on Sunday, Chalk outlined plans to “manage population pressures” by “moving away from short-term prison sentences that make hardened criminals rather than rehabilitated offenders”.
Pop up prisons
Already, ‘house blocks have been introduced at prisons, with the first 350 prefabricated “rapid deployment cells” installed already at five sites,’ reports The Guardian
The Daily Mail reports: “Pop-up cells which will put prisoners in prefab Portakabin-style blocks to be expanded to try and solve major overcrowding crisis in Britain’s jails.”
One person who loves the idea is a GB News broadcaster who wrote on X: “Pop-up cells which will put prisoners in prefab Portakabin-style blocks to be expanded to try and solve major overcrowding crisis in Britain’s jails. I welcome this, do you?”
A ministry spokesperson said: “We are categorical that the most serious offenders should be sent to prison and that anyone deemed a risk to public safety is remanded in custody while awaiting trial. Reports to the contrary are false.
“This government has done more than ever before to protect the public and keep sex offenders locked up for longer, ending automatic halfway release for rapists and serious violent offenders and sending rapists to prison for three years longer than in 2010.
“Following the pandemic and barristers’ strike, the criminal justice system has seen a significant spike in the prison population, with 6,000 more prisoners on remand than before the pandemic. While we are carrying out the biggest prison-building programme since the Victoria era, and have taken decisive action to expand capacity further by doubling up cells in the short-term, the prison estate remains under pressure.
“The lord chancellor met criminal justice partners this week and will be setting out a programme of reform in the coming days to ensure that we can continue to strengthen public protection by locking up the most dangerous criminals.”
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