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Comment on record prison population (23 September 2011)

Commenting on today's announcement that the prison population has hit a record high for the third week running and now stands at 87,214, Vicki Helyar-Cardwell, Director of the Criminal Justice Alliance, a coalition of more than sixty criminal justice organisations, said:

"Today's record prison population figures are a stark reminder to the Government to press on with justice reforms which would start to halt the rocketing prison population.

"The Chief Inspector of Prisons warned last week that many prisoners are simply being warehoused in overcrowded prisons, with little rehabilitative work able to take place. In his words, "It is not that terrible things are done to prisoners; it is that for too many, nothing much happens at all.

"We have had more than 20 years of politicians talking tough but not acting smart, during which time the prison population has almost doubled. The Prime Minister should take the opportunity at the Conservative Party Conference to publicly back the rehabilitation revolution and reiterate the coalition's promise to get a grip on prisons policy."