Facing prison overcrowding, Britain should adopt a policy, widely used in the United States, that allows inmates to earn early release through good behavior, says an official report to Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government that specifically cites Texas as an example.
The independent review, released on Thursday, calls for the introduction of a new system that would let most inmates serve only one-third of their sentences in prison.
David Gauke, a former Conservative politician who served as justice secretary between 2018 and 2019, was asked by the Labour government to draw up a plan for tackling a capacity crisis in British prisons. Forecasts by the Ministry of Justice expect more than 100,000 prison places to be needed in England and Wales by March 2029, but the current operational capacity is below 85,000.
Late last year more than 16,000 prisoners were released early under an emergency move by the government to relieve overcrowding, and Mr. Gauke’s review said plans to build more prisons “still fall short” of what is needed.
He said a “political narrative” in which the previous Conservative government asserted itself as “tough on crime” resulted in a series of policies that increased the length of sentences for many crimes and the proportion of terms spent behind bars.
He wrote that there was an “urgent need for change,” with demand for prison cells already coming “dangerously close to exceeding supply” and forcing emergency short-term measures.
The government is not expected to adopt all of the recommendations, some of which would see prison time reduced for the most dangerous criminals, including violent and sexual offenders. Britain’s current justice secretary, Shabana Mahmood, is expected to lay out the government’s initial response to the review in Parliament on Thursday.
The review was expected to bring backlash from the Conservatives and the right-wing Reform Party. Robert Jenrick, the Conservatives’ justice spokesman, said implementing the recommendations would be a “gift to criminals who will be free to offend with impunity.”
Of the 50 United States, at least 42 have systems that reward prisoners by making them eligible for release earlier, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Some states give credit simply for compliance with prison rules, others for participation in programs like work, education or treatment, and still others do both.
Mr. Gauke traveled to Texas in February to conduct research for his review, which also looked at countries including Spain and the Netherlands.
His report cited the “good conduct time” program operated by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice allowed inmates to shorten the time served before being eligible for parole reviews by behaving well and taking part in rehabilitative activities. He called for the British government to introduce a similar “earned progression” model.
The review said that there would be an “expectation” that a vast majority of prisoners “would be released at the one-third point” of their sentences and supervised afterward.
It also proposed expanded alternatives, like electronic monitoring for lower-level offenses and called for short terms of under a year to be served in prison only in “exceptional circumstances.”
In a statement, Mr. Gauke emphasized the scale of the problem, saying: “Overcrowded prisons are leading to dangerous conditions for staff and contributing to high levels of reoffending. We cannot build our way out of it. To stabilize the prison system and end the dangerous cycle of emergency releases, the government must take decisive action.”
Mr. Gauke said that his proposals would reduce the prison population of England and Wales by 9,800 people — exceeding the target of 9,500 that the Ministry of Justice has said is necessary.
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