The UK should “make more use of open prisons” to avoid overcrowding and reduce re-offending, the head of the government's sentencing review has suggested.
David Gauke said the Times that “we have run out of space” in prisons and that there is an “opportunity” to change the system if prisoners are given more freedom to leave prison to study and work during the day.
The government has called in a former Tory justice secretary to review sentencing and tackle overcrowding.
His comments follow visits to three prisons in Spain, where reforms have put 25% of prisoners in open prisons.
He said the policy saved money and inmates were better prepared for release which made them less likely to reoffend.
Gauke was justice secretary between January 2018 and July 2019 in Theresa May's Cabinet.
Earlier this year he was appointed as head of the Government sentencing reviewwhich is expected to consider scrapping short sentences and strengthening community orders as an alternative to prison.
The review was a Labor manifesto pledge and the party also includes Lord Timpson, former boss of the key cutting chain which employs ex-offenders and head of the Prison Reform Trust , as the minister of their prisons.
“I think there's more recognition that we've gone down the path of increasing sentencing to the point where we're not doing anything to reduce crime but it's causing huge costs,” Gauke told the Times.
“This is not about being soft on crime, it's about reducing crime more effectively.”
The government has already released 5,500 inmates early in an emergency plan to free up cells and stop the justice system from collapsing, and have also announced a sentencing review aimed at increasing custodial sentences to give
The policy is expected to be reviewed in 18 months.
The Ministry of Justice has committed to finding 14,000 cell places in prisons by 2031.
Around 6,400 of these will be in new prisons, with £2.3 billion towards the cost over the next two years.
But earlier in December, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood told BBC Radio 4's Today Program that simply building more prisons would not solve the overcrowding crisis.
Asked if the estate would run out of cells within three years, even with an extra 14,000 spaces, Mahmood said: “We'll run out because even with all that new supply, with the increase in the prison population we see as a result. new supply, helping the increase in demand, as demand continues to rise faster than any supply could keep up.”
Gauke has also said that building more prisons is not the answer and a more “strategic” approach is needed to free up space.
The sentencing review is expected to make its recommendations this spring.
