England and Wales’ bulging prisons house record number

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LONDON (Reuters) – The prison population in England and Wales reached a record high on Friday, the government said, ahead of a planned expansion of the early release of prisoners this month aimed at tackling an overcrowding crisis.

Britain has western Europe’s highest rate of incarceration, according to the World Prison Brief database and faces a crisis after a new building programme failed to keep track with tougher sentencing laws that have fuelled a growing prison population.

Figures published by the Ministry of Justice showed the prison population was now at 88,521, up from 88,350 a week earlier.

That equates to nearly 150 prisoners per 100,000 in the population. Imprisonment rates are around 25% lower in France, Spain and Italy and less than half in Germany and the Netherlands. The United States, however, has a far higher rate at 531 prisoners per 100,000.

Shortly after taking office in July, Britain’s new Labour government said prisons could be full within weeks and early release was needed to prevent what justice minister Shabana Mahmood described as “a total breakdown of law and order”.

Already many prisons are housing two inmates in cells built for one, and the body representing prison governors has warned offenders would soon have to be held in police cells – constraining officers and disrupting the wider judicial system.

“The new government inherited a justice system in crisis, with prisons on the point of collapse,” a Ministry of Justice spokesperson said on Friday.

“It has been forced to introduce an early release programme to stop a crisis that would have overwhelmed the criminal justice system, meaning we would no longer be able to lock up dangerous criminals and protect the public.”

Over the summer, roughly 1,300 people were arrested and around 200 have so far been jailed after days of rioting which followed the killing of three young girls in the northern English town of Southport, adding to pressure on prisons.

Under the early release plan, which was approved by parliament and is due to come into force on Sept. 10, most prisoners will become eligible for release after serving 40% of their sentences behind bars, down from 50% currently.

The government has said roughly 5,500 offenders will be released between September and October.

Prisoners who are let out can be returned to jail if they reoffend or break other terms of their release, and those serving sentences for serious violent offences of four years or more are automatically excluded from the scheme.