For "inn" read "prison" where, as we all know, there is currently very little room indeed! Over the past few days, John Reid's letter to judges "reminding" them only to imprison dangerous offenders where possible has been the subject of much discussion. It has also provided us with another useful line to trot out in mitigation - just as the ones about defendants' girlfriends being pregnant and them having made real efforts to wean themselves off the smack were wearing a bit thin! Despite the odd story about paedophiles walking free, none of the judges I've been in front of in the last few days seem to be doing things any differently. And quite right, too! Leaving aside the questions of why we in the UK have such a staggeringly high percentage of our population behind bars and how we can reduce crime, why should people receive markedly different punishments for the same kind of offence depending on whether the prisons are a bit cramped the week they happen to be in court? Judges have little enough discretion in sentencing these days without having to bear in mind the lack of available prison space.
On the subject of available prison space, due to over-crowding at a local men's prison the adjacent women's prison was closed down recently in order to provide extra accommodation for male prisoners. "But what of all the female prisoners?" I hear you ask. Well, last week I represented a young woman who had been awaiting sentence in custody. Due to the closure of the women's prison, which was around an hour away from the court, she (along any other women remanded or sentenced by that court) was in a prison almost three hours away. Unsurprisingly, this prison is also very crowded, in part due to the extra people it is now having to accommodate. So altogether she spent the best part of six hours in a prison van, just for a 15 minute hearing. Apart from the issue of how she will cope with serving her sentence too far away for her family to visit her, just imagine what it costs to ferry prisoners around over such distances. Still, at least the male prison isn't critically over-crowded anymore, so I suppose shifting the problem elsewhere will mean some department will be able to chalk the whole sorry affair up as a success.
On the subject of available prison space, due to over-crowding at a local men's prison the adjacent women's prison was closed down recently in order to provide extra accommodation for male prisoners. "But what of all the female prisoners?" I hear you ask. Well, last week I represented a young woman who had been awaiting sentence in custody. Due to the closure of the women's prison, which was around an hour away from the court, she (along any other women remanded or sentenced by that court) was in a prison almost three hours away. Unsurprisingly, this prison is also very crowded, in part due to the extra people it is now having to accommodate. So altogether she spent the best part of six hours in a prison van, just for a 15 minute hearing. Apart from the issue of how she will cope with serving her sentence too far away for her family to visit her, just imagine what it costs to ferry prisoners around over such distances. Still, at least the male prison isn't critically over-crowded anymore, so I suppose shifting the problem elsewhere will mean some department will be able to chalk the whole sorry affair up as a success.
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