The Independent Sentencing Review, published today, offers the potential for a fresh start, our Director, Richard Garside, has said.
Government and parliament will, though, have to unlearn the bad habits of decades that contributed to the current prisons crisis.
Speaking today, Richard Garside said:
Successive governments and parliaments have been persistent offenders: driving up sentence lengths, pitching the prison system into recurring crises, then casting around for fixes for the mess they have created.
Fresh thinking is desperately needed, so I welcome the publication of David Gauke’s review. Nobody really believes that the government can build its way out of the prison capacity crisis, or that the current way of doing sentencing and prisons policy is desirable. The measures being recommended by the Gauke Review offer the potential for a fresh start.
After decades of failed sentencing policy, ministers and parliament will, though, need to learn new, healthier habits, committing to long-term behaviour change.
