The UK justice system is facing a crisis with overcrowded prisons and significant delays in court trials, prompting the government to take drastic measures. Rape victims are waiting approximately two years for their day in court, while fraud victims wait around three years. The delays challenge the principle of innocence until proven guilty, with no crown court experiencing more ineffective trials than in Maidstone, Kent. Victims, such as Katie, 20, an aspiring criminology student, find their lives permanently altered by the delays. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) figures reveal that prisons in the East of England are nearing capacity. In response, Justice Secretary Alex Chalk has warned Prime Minister Rishi Sunak that without passing the Sentencing Bill to scrap short sentences, prisons risk running out of space by Easter, potentially leading to riots. An emergency government initiative will release prisoners up to 60 days early to alleviate the situation. Labour criticizes the move, arguing it reflects the Conservative government's failure to provide sufficient prison spaces. The early release scheme, the largest in nearly 20 years, is a response to prisons being at 99.7% capacity for men and 96.9% for women, with fewer than 238 spaces left in men's jails and 118 in women's jails across England and Wales.
“The government is literally running out of space” @neilsonandrew and @TomSwarbrick1 discuss the possibility of prisoners being granted early release to help reduce the prison population. https://t.co/NmQA7ayfb6
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“The moves came as internal figures obtained by The Telegraph showed male prisons were 99.7 per cent full, with just 238 spaces left out of an operational capacity of 85,000. Women’s jails are 96.9 per cent full with just 118 spaces left. ‘It is dire’ A prison service source… https://t.co/BRxSBVqucf
NEW: Britain has only around 700 detention spaces available for migrants who arrive "illegally" -- far fewer than the thousands needed to meet the ambitions of Rishi Sunak’s migration policy, according to my calculations 1/3 https://t.co/tqWjtPcHKm
Fewer than 250 spaces are left in men’s jails in England and Wales, The @Telegraph can reveal, as the Justice Secretary sanctioned the biggest early release scheme from prisons in nearly 20 years. @AlexChalkChelt @CourtsIdle @HMCTSgovuk https://t.co/FxRFA5L4eg https://t.co/qGcEgye2bI
Scheme to free offenders early expanded due to lack of space in prisons Full story ⬇️ https://t.co/K1dbSfszd6
Prisoners could be let out 60 days early to relieve crowded jails in England and Wales https://t.co/qdyyV084Lt
Labour’s @ShabanaMahmood says the public will be "rightly alarmed" by the prisons announcement snuck out “under the cover of darkness” “Successive Conservative governments have failed to build enough prison places,” she says https://t.co/c2XjFNnM1i
NEW: Prisoners will be released up to 60 days early under govt initiative to free up rammed jails. MoJ slipped this out at around 8pm tonight via a written ministerial statement. https://t.co/1fSfNksVaE
“The government isn’t facing up to the challenges plaguing the justice system.” Our president Nick Emmerson tells @NewLawJournal, as we reacted to last week’s Spring Budget. https://t.co/dW2UrslCkx https://t.co/YTt7XyDiFC
The justice secretary has warned Rishi Sunak that his delay in passing laws to scrap short sentences risks prisons running out of space by Easter and sparking riots ⬇️ https://t.co/tI5QACzFNu
Excl: Alex Chalk has warned Rishi Sunak that his delays to passing the landmark Sentencing Bill threatens to leave prisons full by Easter. Drastic measures such as housing prisoners on boats have been considered: https://t.co/18or1JlKQL
📈 “Thousands of people are left in limbo for years waiting for their cases to come to trial.” President Nick Emmerson tells @lawsocgazette about rising #Backlogs, as 180 alleged rape cases more than two years old will be prioritised for trial this year. https://t.co/7ZNvkQMGAf https://t.co/WZ6m7PO3dN
East of England prisons nearing capacity, MoJ figures show https://t.co/i8WeEgG4oK
“keeping victims in limbo for months — even years — can cause permanent damage to people’s lives” “Katie, 20, had her sights set on a criminology degree, but now walking unaided to the local shop in north London is beyond her.” @thetimes today “She was just 18 when, in November… https://t.co/ANPBPSn81K
Justice denied “For the accused, lengthy delays challenge the notion of innocence until proven guilty. https://t.co/Tm5fDN5CHK “In the year to September, no crown court had a higher share of ineffective trials than Maidstone, Kent. On January 30 the building had to be… https://t.co/ANPBPSn81K
Rape victims must wait about two years for their day in court — for fraud victims, it’s more like three ⬇️ https://t.co/5Ay8WCqRxU