The latest figures released by the Prison Service today show the prison population to be at a new record high of 81,918. In response, Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust, said:

The Ministry of Justice must urgently review the unnecessary use of remand, recalls and short prison sentences for petty offences which we know have been driving up prison numbers in recent weeks.

But any breathing space will be temporary unless ministers face up to the need to stop the needless and counterproductive imprisonment of the mentally ill and addicts in need of treatment. Smarter use of prisons and community punishments would cut re-offending and put a stop to these weekly crises which so undermine public confidence in the system.

Notes
1. Over the course of a year, over 50,000 people are remanded into prison. Many will be back in court in less than two months at which point one in five will be acquitted and over half will receive a community penalty.

2. A parliamentary answer recently revealed that of the 96,017 people sentenced to prison in 2006, 62% received a sentence of six months or less (Hansard, 28 January 2008; column 137w).

3. The Ministry of Justice has admitted that the cost of using police cells is £459 per prisoner/per night.

4. The figures can be viewed at the Prison Service website