Blunkett unveils hostels plan to cut jail numbers

Internal links

This week Mr Blunkett is a liberal, and he is right about prison reform

Blunkett unveils hostels plan to cut jail numbers

Reforms aimed at cutting the prison population by releasing thousands of inmates on weekdays and housing others in hostels were cautiously welcomed by penal and reform groups yesterday.

With the prison population already at an all-time high and expected to reach 71,500 by September next year, the Home Secretary, David Blunkett, will outline a "third option to custody and community punishment" at the annual conference of the Prison Service today.

Mr Blunkett said in a precursor to his speech that he wanted to take a "long, hard look" at a system inherited from the Victorians.

While insisting he would remain tough on violent and sex offenders, Mr Blunkett said it was time to "get smart" and combat the pressures of outdated prison facilities.

His vision of the future – where tagging, hostels and weekend sentences provide an alternative for non-violent offenders – was praised as a "sensible, creative" alternative to "pointless" short sentences.

Among the proposals being considered is a system, already used in Germany and Canada, where offenders are only incarcerated during the weekend, while taking part in programmes to designed to reduce the risk of reoffending.

Mr Blunkett said: "Those on remand and short sentences are not inside for long enough for these programmes [addressing offending behaviour] to make any difference – but they are there long enough to lose their jobs, their family relationships and even their homes. This can push someone off the straight and narrow."

Mr Blunkett has been discussing the proposals with Martin Narey, the director general of the Prison Service, for some time to find a "third alternative for the courts". A Home Office spokesman said: "The idea is to cut reoffending. People are less likely to reoffend if they maintain close family ties, have somewhere to live and some kind of work."

Anne Owers, the chief inspector of prisons, said such measures could benefit some of the 80 per cent of prisoners currently serving sentences of less than a year. She said: "It sounds, on the face of it, like a very creative response to some of the things we have been saying in our reports."The proposal would also offer an alternative for the 60 per cent of women offenders who were responsible for children under 16, she said.

David Roddan, general secretary of the Prison Governors' Association, said: "In principle we very much welcome diversion of offenders from short, pointless prison sentences to effective community penalties."

Paul Cavadino, chief executive of the National Association for Care and Resettlement of Offenders, added it would be less expensive and more humane to deal with non-violent offenders in hostels.

Andy Darken, national chairman of the Prison Officers' Association said he welcomed any reforms which reduced overcrowding, but he warned that such measures might not provide a sufficient deterrent to habitual offenders.

Oliver Letwin, the shadow Home Secretary, called for more details about where the proposed weekend secure units would be located.

The Prison Service said a likely option would be to set up open jails and hostels in established prison grounds.

Leading article,

Review, page 3