Prisons across England and Wales now 98.9% full | Politics News

Prisons across England and Wales have been available for months at their highest capacity, with fewer cells available than at any time this year.

There are less than 1,000 savings prison cells across England and Wales, a record low for this year.

Only 961 spaces are now available, which means that prisons are now almost 98.9% full, according to new government figures.

This means that the Prison Estate is now more pressure than it has been for months, including when the government was forced to release about 3,000 prisoners early in the fall of last year to avoid overpopulation.

The Howard League, a charity that reformed the prison system, said it shows that the system is “failing” and “unsustainable”. It added that it could “not be clearer that further action is needed” and called on the government to send fewer people to prison.

What shows the new figures?

The number of free cells has not dropped below 1,000 over the past six months – but it has now, which means that there is only 1.1% capacity.

There are only 551 empty places in men’s prisons, and 261 in women’s prisons in England and Wales, from April 14.

Within the youth conservation, there are 141 empty cells, although this area is less considered of a problem in terms of overpopulation.

Ministers will be under renewed pressure to act, as prisons have reached 98.9% capacity, with 88.081 men and women serving supervisory sentences, according to figures from the Justice (MOJ) Ministry.

The statistics also show that more than 3.200 prisoners are already serving their sentences at home. This means that they will typically be subject to strict conditions such as drinking the choices and ban on drinking, which can be monitored by an electronic label.

Can another ’emergency decision’ be on the horizon?

This is a worse position than before the early release performed last year, when some prisoners were freed after serving only 40% of their sentences, rather than the usual 50%.

The government called it an ’emergency decision’ at the time and blamed the conservatives that they no longer created capacity while in power.

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According to the MOJ, there were only 1 098 extra cells on September 6, 2024 with prisons 98.7% full.

About 1,700 people were then freed On September 10, with the number of free places – the main space called – rising to 3,219 on September 10, 2024.

The next month, the government finds itself in a similar position. Prisons were 98.1% full, with only 1.671 extra cells, from October 21. The next day, About 1100 prisoners have been freedIncrease the main space to 3.141.

But now the prison estate is in an even worse position, with figures showing that the population has been rising gradually since the beginning of the year. At the beginning of January, there were more than 85,000 prisoners behind bars, and this has now increased by about 2500.

The government’s early release scheme also had criticism at the time, with the conservatives that it was a “Rookie -error by an arrogant and inexperienced government”.

Many other methods are trying to prevent overcrowding in prison, with the government revealing plans to use an emergency measure so that Cells in police stations can be used to house prisoners.

Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood also has refused to exclude the shortening of sentences of violent offenders – Potential to include these criminals in any future early release schemes.

Just last week Sky News learned that an independent policy review would suggest Limiting the use of shorter sentences to send 9,500 fewer people to prison By 2028.

Prison situation ‘unsustainable’

In response to the figures, Andrew Neilson, the director of campaigns in the Howard League for Penalty Reform, said: “Prisons were asked to do too much too much, with too little, and these population figures show that even the early release of thousands of people could not solve this problem for good.”

He added that more than half of the prisons were overcrowded and said “the situation is unsustainable”.

“Overpopulation and a lack of resources contribute to a failed system where the needs of people in prison are overlooked and unfulfilled,” he said.

“It may not be clearer that further action is needed. Ministers have acknowledged that they cannot build their way out of this crisis.

“We need to send fewer people to prison, combat the use of recall after release, and prioritize to provide an effective and responsive trial service that works to reduce community crime.”

A MOJ spokeswoman said the government had “inherited overcrowded prisons, days of collapse”.

“We put in place emergency measures last summer, but we were always clear that action was needed in the longer term,” they said.

“This includes the delivery of 14,000 new prison places by 2031, with 900 already delivered and 1,500 more opening this summer. We will also reform sentencing to ensure that no government is out of prison space again.”