Risk of jail riots is highest for a decade, warns Woolf

Overcrowding in prisons could lead to riots on a scale not seen since the Strangeways disturbances more than 10 years ago, the country's top judge warned yesterday.

The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Woolf, whose report into the 1991 Strangeways riots in Manchester led to reform of the prison system, said there was a danger of history repeating itself. "If the population of the prisons continues to rise in the way that it has been, there is a real risk of a repetition of the sort of events which took place over 10 years ago and which my report was designed to make beyond possibility of repetition," he told an international conference on criminal justice. Conditions in some jails were "no longer tolerable".

When Lord Woolf published his Strangeways report the prison population stood at 44,000 and was falling, but it has since leapt to 71,000 and is predicted to reach 83,000 by 2008. "I cannot believe we can contemplate with equanimity a prison population of that size," Lord Woolf said. "We should send to prison fewer offenders than we do currently."

He supported ministers' call for greater use of community penalties, but said: "This does not mean that serious offenders should not be imprisoned. They should be imprisoned and, in some cases, the sentences need to be severe."

Again referring to his 1991 report, Lord Woolf told the London conference: "I hoped that it would be the last occasion that there would be disturbances on that scale, but we would be foolish if we did not recognise the danger of repetition now that some of the causes of those disturbances have reappeared." The Home Secretary, David Blunkett, has twice joined Lord Woolf in appealing to judges and magistrates to send people to jail only when absolutely necessary.

Mr Blunkett has also referred to the Strangeways riots when discussing the dangers of an increasing prison population. A survey by the Prison Reform Trust last week showed that prison boards of visitors – the independent local watchdogs – were also worried that overcrowding would cause disorder.

Lord Woolf suggested prosecutors should play an "enhanced role" in the sentencing of convicted offenders, a role they have in America. He discussed developing a formal new code on sentencing which prosecutors could refer to in court before judges made a final decision on punishment.

"I would not like to see the practice, as in some parts of the USA, of the prosecution demanding a particular sentence. However, when we have a developed sentencing code the prosecution could appropriately draw the judge's attention to the relevant provisions."

The Lord Chief Justice drew attention to the problems faced by the criminal justice system by quoting from an Audit Commission report which showed that an estimated £80m was wasted each year by adjournments, delays and "cracked" trials, in which a jury is summoned but the trial dealt with in some other way.

He also highlighted the importance of official reports into the courts and sentencing. "It is my belief that the right decisions of the Government in response to these reports could result in the creation of the modern and effective criminal justice system which the government, politicians of all parties, the judiciary, the legal profession and, above all, the public would like to see."