England riots: Prison population rising by '100 a day'

 

The Prison Governors Association has warned jails could run out of space

The prison population has increased by more than 100 a day over the past week as courts process cases of rioting and looting, prison governors have said.

They said total jail numbers were 86,608 in England and Wales, a rise of 677 in the six days up to Thursday.
The Prison Governors Association warned jails would run out of space if they continued to fill up at such a rate.
However, the organisation said there was no immediate crisis. Official figures have yet to be released.
Contingency plans The prison population normally decreases or remains stable in August because there are fewer court sittings and offenders sent to jail.
But this year because of the disorder in London, Manchester, Birmingham and other English cities, numbers are rising sharply. Demand for cells is particularly high in London.
It means the number of spare places in the system - about 1,200 in prisons and 200 in immigration removal centres - is declining.
Last week, the Ministry of Justice released figures showing the prison population had increased by 440 since the riots and was at a record high. It said it was "fairly confident" it could get the "headroom" it needed in prisons but that contingency plans were in place.
'Aggravating features'
These included putting an extra bed in a two-person cell, so that three prisoners would have to share one cell. The Youth Justice Board said there was also "ample" spare capacity in secure children's homes and secure training centres which hold young offenders from the age of 10.

Last year, Justice Secretary Ken Clarke hoped in his prisons and sentencing Green Paper to cut the jail population by 3,000.
Now, prisons are fuller than ever and officials are developing contingency plans as governors worry about running out of cells.
Magistrates have remanded almost 800 riot suspects - a six-fold increase in the usual numbers they lock up before trial. Many of those being remanded are first-time offenders who, at other times, would have been bailed.
Ken Clarke's original proposals included cutting remands by 1,300, reserving it only for those definitely going to jail. That would have saved prisons an estimated £50m.
As communities clean up and repair the damage, the hidden costs and challenges for prisons will grow as governors squeeze in hundreds of glum-faced looters, while trying to deliver reforms aimed at cutting reoffending.

Ministers may come under pressure to keep open two prisons that were due to close next month - Brockhill in Worcestershire and Latchmere House in south-west London.

Prime Minister David Cameron has defended courts for handing out "tough" sentences for those involved in the riots.
Rioters are being given prison terms that are on average 25% longer than usual. It also says 56 of 80 offenders sentenced by magistrates - or 70% - have been jailed, compared with a rate of 2% normally.
Some MPs and campaigners have said there have been examples of prison terms being too harsh.
Lib Dem peer and Howard League for Penal Reform president Lord Carlile said some decisions were "questionable".
On Tuesday, two men were jailed for four years at Chester Crown Court for using Facebook to incite riots. Both are to appeal against the sentence.
Max Hill QC, vice-chairman of the Criminal Bar Association, said it was not the job of judges "to deliver a political message on behalf of the government" when passing sentence but part of their role was to identify "serious aggravating features that elevate the crime beyond the ordinary".
He added: "In the case of the two in Chester, it seems that is exactly what the judge has done."