Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Watchdog warns of prison overcrowding as Boris Johnson vows to extend jail terms

Ministers accused of showing ‘inaccurate and incomplete understanding’ of how to improve jail system as they prepare to lock prisoners up for longer. May Bulman reports

Thursday 06 February 2020 19:26 GMT
Comments
The National Audit Office says the prison service has shown an ‘inaccurate understanding’ of how to improve the system
The National Audit Office says the prison service has shown an ‘inaccurate understanding’ of how to improve the system

Ministers are failing to tackle overcrowding and soaring levels of violence and self-harm in prisons, the government’s spending watchdog has warned as Boris Johnson vows to introduce longer jail terms.

The National Audit Office (NAO) said the prison service had shown an “inaccurate and incomplete understanding” of how to improve the system, presiding over plummeting levels of safety and huge maintenance backlogs despite having introduced flagship initiatives to tackle these issues five years ago.

It comes as the prime minister plans to increase prison sentences for serious sexual and violent offenders, as well as creating 10,000 more prison places in order to “improve the criminal justice system and make sure criminals are serving the time they are sentenced to”.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in