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Prison overcrowding at the heart of criminal justice failure (25 August 2009)

Commenting on figures released by the Prison Reform Trust showing that two-thirds of prisons in England and Wales are overcrowded, Jon Collins, Campaign Director for the Criminal Justice Alliance, said:

'The Government's failure to tackle prison overcrowding is at the heart of their mismanagement of the criminal justice system.

'Prison overcrowding is damaging to every aspect of the work of the Prison Service. It results in disruptions to education, training, and drug and alcohol treatment, reduces the likelihood of prisoners securing a job or housing on release, and therefore leads to higher reoffending rates.

'Despite the billions of pounds spent on new prison places, the prison system remains dangerously overcrowded. The Government's attempts to build its way out of a prisons crisis have failed. Urgent action is now needed to end prison overcrowding, not by further prison building but by a substantial and sustained reduction in the prison population.'