The length of time prisoners spend on remand should be intolerable in a civilised society

Editorial: There are 150 people who have been in jail for more than five years before going to trial – it is a damning indictment of our public services

There are now 2,000 prisoners awaiting trial who have been detained for more than a year (Getty/iStock)

It is hard to believe that more than 4,000 people who must be presumed innocent, because they have not yet been proven guilty, have been imprisoned in this country for longer than six months.

At the six-month point, the law requires a judge to approve the prisoner’s continued detention. This is virtually automatic, and it means that there are now 2,000 prisoners on remand, awaiting trial, who have been detained for more than a year.

Hardest of all to believe is that there are 150 prisoners who have waited more than five years for their day in court. All of them are male, and one-third of them are non-white.