Call for fewer criminals to be jailed

The prisons system in England and Wales is in crisis, reformers said today, as they called for drastic cuts in the number of criminals jailed.

The Commission on English Prisons Today, a two-year inquiry by academics, lawyers and campaigners, said closing prisons would save money and help cut reoffending.

The commission, which was set up by the Howard League for Penal Reform, criticised the criminal justice "hyperactivity" by governments over the last 15 years.

Its report, Do Better Do Less concluded prisons have become "warehouses" where people with mental health problems and those with drug and alcohol addictions are "dumped".

The National Offender Management Service, which runs prisons and probation, should be dismantled, and prison budgets devolved to local communities, the report said.

The authors said criminals should be given community punishments instead of short prison terms.

Cherie Booth QC, the commission president said: "This final report should be a road-map for long term and fundamental reform.

"The commission proposes that justice is more local. Crucially, more widespread use of effective community sentences would both allow us to reduce the use of prison and allow for reinvestment of resources into local communities to cut offending."

Commission chairman, Professor David Wilson, said England and Wales punished criminals "harshly and excessively".

He said ministers were guilty of passing legislation that increases prison terms while disregarding the consequences for the prison population.

"The result is a crisis of overcrowding which threatens to bring the penal system to its knees."

Despite falls in crime recorded by the British Crime Survey, the prison population has more than doubled since the early 1990s, the report found.

It said constraints on public spending caused by the economic crisis were an opportunity for fundamental reform.

Money saved could be invested in communities which suffer from "deprivation and victimisation", the report said.

Paul Cavadino, chief executive of charity Nacro said: "We can only cut crime by rehabilitating offenders effectively if we adopt radical solutions.

"This means dramatically reducing our use of prison, ending overcrowding and dealing more constructively with offenders with mental health issues and drug-related problems."