05 December 2007
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice Jack Straw today made a statement to the House of Commons on the publication of Lord Carter of Coles' prisons review.
Jack Straw said:
'Prison is, and will remain, the right place for the most serious offenders. Custodial sentences, and therefore prison places, must also be available for less serious offenders when other measures have failed or are inappropriate. And we must have in place a rigorous and effective framework of community penalties where they are the right course.
'The measures I have announced today will bring many more prison places on stream with agreed funding and a delivery programme.
'They will allow for a rational debate on sentencing, which recognises that as with any other public service, resources are finite. And above all they will fulfil our commitment to provide a modernised prison system which protects the public from the most serious offenders.'
He announced:
- £1.2 billion of additional funding on top of £1.5 billion already committed, to deliver a further and extended building programme that will bring an additional 10,500 places on stream by 2014.
- Up to three large 'Titan' prisons are to be built, each housing around 2,500 prisoners.
- A modernising, 'new-for-old' strategy to build out inefficiencies. Smaller and older prison sites could be closed, or reconfigured to accommodate female or juvenile offenders.
- The building and modernisation programme is aimed to bring capacity to just over 96,000 places by 2014.
- Intended conversion of the former MoD site at Coltishall in Norfolk into a Category C prison.
- Intended conversion of open side of HMP Wealstun into a closed prison.
- The Ministry of Justice is actively looking at securing a prison ship.
On sentencing, he announced:
- To ensure Indeterminate Sentences for Public Protection (IPPs) are focused on the most serious and dangerous offenders, amendments will be introduced to the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill to introduce a minimum tariff of two years below which IPPs and extended sentences cannot be given. It is rare for rape to receive less than two years tariff. Any sentence for a serious offence effectively below a two-year tariff would be open to appeal on grounds of undue leniency.
- Release mechanisms for offenders sentenced under the 1991 Criminal Justice Act will be aligned with those sentenced under the 2003 Act. This means offenders sentenced for non-sexual, non-violent offences committed before April 2005 are now eligible for release at the halfway point of their sentence and remain on licence to the end of sentence, rather than being eligible for parole at the halfway point, automatic release at two-thirds, and licence to three-quarters only.
- A working group will be established to consider the advantages, disadvantages and feasibility of a Sentencing Commission.
Notes to editors
1. Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice Jack Straw gave an oral statement to the House of Commons today on the report of the prisons review carried out by Lord Carter of Coles. The text of the statement, along with Lord Carter's report, is available on the Ministry of Justice website.
2. In early June 2007, the government asked Lord Carter to undertake a review into the prison system with the following terms of reference:
- to consider options for improving the balance between the supply of prison places and demand for them and to make recommendations on how this should be achieved; in particular
- to assess the pace, scale and value for money of the current prison building programme in light of the likely future demand for prison places;
- to assess the management and efficiency of public sector prisons;
- to assess the potential for further cost effective renewal of the prison estate by replacing expensive and poor quality prisons with new state of the art penal establishments;
- to assess the impact of recommendations on the prison estate for other parts of the criminal justice estate, taking account of the need for close working relationships between the courts, probation services and prisons;
- to assess the changes in the sentencing framework and to remand policy that will be necessary to align supply and demand; and
- to provide a report on the above issues jointly to the Prime Minister, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Secretary of State for Justice by Autumn 2007.