I do not know whether the Home Secretary will agree, but I believe that two of the principal reasons for the incipient, if not actual, Crisis in Our Prisons are over-population and under-staffing.
This is a Crisis in Our Prisons.
If the present explosion and Crisis in Our Prisons does nothing else it should strengthen my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary in kicking up the backside those who are recalcitrant in the Department of Health and Social Security.
He was warned a long time ago about the Crisis in Our Prisons - not least by his predecessor as Home Secretary.
I want to deal to a large extent with the Crisis in Our Prisons.
I must, however, resist a natural inclination to follow up the hon. Gentleman's remarks on those subjects, because I should like to speak, very briefly, about a subject that has, as we all know, immediate urgency, and that is the Crisis in Our Prisons.
There has been a substantial further increase in the volume of crime and we have a Prison Crisis upon us.
Does he agree that it is one of the most certain ways of dealing with the present Crisis in the Prisons caused by over-population?
Will my right hon. Friend prove his concern about the Crisis in Our Prisons by promising an early debate on the May report?
The right hon. Gentleman's proposals for the Prisons Board and the inspectorate are welcome, but does he accept that the general response to his statement will be great disappointment over the opportunities that he has missed to make a radical inroad into the Crisis in Our Prisons?
I warmly applaud my right hon. Friend's medium and long-term approach to this problem, and his undoubted commitment not only to the protection of the public but to the efficiency of the penal system, but is it not a fact that there is an immediate Crisis in Our Prisons?
May I remind the Leader of the House of his undertaking some weeks ago on the Crisis in Our Prisons?
Does not the Attorney-General owe it to the Home Secretary to help him face the Crisis in Our Prisons?
Is the Leader of the House aware of the growing anger on both sides of the Chamber about the Government's casual attitude to the Crisis in Our Prisons?
A Crisis in Our Prisons is, by definition, a crisis for the police, the courts and the probation and after-care service.
While there is much that can be done to improve the Present Prison Crisis, I wish I could tell the House from my personal experience that I could see a continuing and sustained reduction in the prison population.
While there is much that can be done to improve the present Prison Crisis, I wish I could tell the House from my personal experience that I could see a continuing and sustained reduction in the prison population.
It is paradoxical that so far the failure of the police to detect has ensured that the Crisis in Our Prisons has not reached boiling point.
We face a major Crisis in Our Prisons.
They feel that their loyalty has been taken for granted and that the attitude of disregard for the prison service is indicated by the manner in which successive Governments and the House of Commons have ignored the warnings from prison officers, the prison and borstal governors and everyone else about the so-called worsening Crisis in Our Prisons.
The fact that the Government and their precedessors have been consistently incompetent and dilatory in their handling of the Prison Crisis has never been an excuse for an increase in the power of the Executive to override civil liberties and human rights.
It seems that that is an unnecessary limitation upon the powers that he is taking, especially when we consider the present Crisis in the Prisons.
extending the detention sentence from three weeks to four months; introducing residential care orders for juveniles, as magistrates have long sought; determining whether the short, sharp shock treatment is successful; encouraging the court to relieve the Crisis in Our Prisons by a number of measures that have been well discussed today and in recent debates about temporary measures; placing particular emphasis upon alternatives to custody, suspended and deferred sentences, more extensive use of attendance centres, community service orders, which have been very successful; and consideration of the additional early release scheme which the hon. Member for Ormskirk (Mr. Kilroy-Silk) has already discussed.
I beg to move,That this House recognises that the dangerous Crisis in the Prisons cannot be fully resolved without fundamental reforms in the criminal justice system.
I tried to phrase the motion so as to demonstrate that although direct action can be taken on the Prison Crisis, more fundamental reforms are needed in our criminal justice system, and failure to carry out those reforms will still leave us with problems.
The motion stresses that there is a Crisis in Our Prisons.
In his own words he has pinned his reputation to his ability to deal with the Prison Crisis and substantially reduce the numbers in our prisons.
However, so far we have not witnessed that substantial change in policy or the legislation which I and many other hon. Members on both sides of the House regard as necessary if we are seriously to direct ourselves to solving the Crisis in Our Prisons.
However, the Crisis in Our Prisons does not involve such people, because they represent less than 4 per cent.
The Crisis in Prisons involves burglars and those convicted of larceny, who represent 80 per cent.
The White Paper on young offenders suggests replacing borstal and imprisonment by indeterminate sentences of youth custody; extending the detention sentence from three weeks to four months; introducing residential care orders for juveniles, as magistrates have long sought; determining whether the short, sharp shock treatment is successful; encouraging the court to relieve the Crisis in Our Prisons by a number of measures that have been well discussed today and in recent debates about temporary measures; placing particular emphasis upon alternatives to custody, suspended and deferred sentences, more extensive use of attendance centres, community service orders, which have been very successful; and consideration of the additional early release scheme which the hon. Member for Ormskirk (Mr. Kilroy-Silk) has already discussed.
It is important that the House should regularly debate the dangerous Crisis in Our Prisons and consider ways in which to reduce the prison population.
What must be made clear is that the Government are gravely concerned at what is described as the Crisis in the Prisons caused by overcrowding and will take all steps in their power to make known to the public and to all who are concerned in this difficult matter the present state of our prisons.
For the first time the senior civil servant responsible for prisons, in a report to Parliament, is telling the House that there is an imminent Crisis in the Prisons.
In introducing new legislation with new penalties, we must study the matter in the context of the Serious Prison Crisis and the fact that the Home Secretary himself is urging the courts to keep people out of prison.
Opposition Members have made that point since the Prison Crisis became worse than ever.
If there is a danger, or even a possibility, of the Crisis in Our Prisons developing into a more serious crisis, it is prudent for the Government to have legislative provisions to enable them to deal with it as quickly as possible.
considers that inadequate help is given to the victims of violent crime; and further considers that urgent action is needed to deal with the Crisis in the Prisons.
I beg to move,That this House believes that the maintenance of law and order and preservation of liberty depend upon a relationship of confidence and co-operation between the police and local communities, and therefore draws particular attention to the need for community policing methods and an independent procedure by which complaints against the police can be examined; considers that inadequate help is given to the victims of violent crime; and further considers that urgent action is needed to deal with the Crisis in the Prisons.
I am glad that the right hon. Gentleman has been able to sweep up, as it were, into this omnibus motion, a reference to what it rightly describes as the Crisis in the Prisons, even though the "urgent action" which it calls for to deal with this is left unspecified.
My main anxiety is about the continuing Crisis in Our Prisons.
As my hon. and learned Friend the Minister of State said, the Crisis in Our Prisons is dangerous and scandalous.
Is it not time for the Government to include in the Criminal Justice Bill that they will shortly introduce - I am prepared to make only a broad suggestion - a provision that would be of assistance to them and of comfort to the country if we ultimately - I pray that we shall nor - have to face the consequences of the Present Prison Crisis getting out of hand?
I want to consider the last line in the motion, which deals with the "Crisis in the Prisons".
The Home Secretary twice said that there is a Crisis in Our Prisons and that the problem is today's problem.
Changing the statutory framework of powers will, therefore, not by itself solve the Prisons Crisis.
However, all hon. Members are aware that there is a Crisis in Our Prisons and that shorter average sentences are not only desirable but an urgent necessity if we are to reduce the dangers of overcrowding.
We shall not meet the Prison Crisis by simply lopping a few weeks off the average sentence of 18 months to four years.
This is the second debate within a week in which hon. Members have had the opportunity to debate a motion that includes the Crisis in Our Prisons.
] Perhaps even more relevant are the words of the hon. Member for Halifax, who supports the amendment today, in relation to the Indecent Displays (Control) Bill on 1 May 1981, when she said: "It is now the established official Opposition view that, wherever possible, offenders should not be sent to prison if that can be avoided … In introducing new legislation with new penalties, we must study the matter in the context of the Serious Prison Crisis".
Perhaps even more relevant are the words of the hon. Member for Halifax, who supports the amendment today, in relation to the Indecent Displays (Control) Bill on 1 May 1981, when she said:It is now the established official Opposition view that, wherever possible, offenders should not be sent to prison if that can be avoided …In introducing new legislation with new penalties, we must study the matter in the context of the Serious Prison Crisis".
That is needed if we are to deal effectively with the Prison Crisis.
A chance to tackle decisively a Crisis in Our Prisons has been thrown away.
As the prison population has now reached 45,000, and in the light of yesterday's report by Her Majesty's chief inspector of prisons, may we have an early debate on the Crisis in Our Prisons?
I only regret that it is not set out in the context of a wider set of proposals that would do more to tackle the Crisis in Our Prisons.
The truth is that no Government have done more than this Government to alleviate the Crisis in the Prisons thatwe inherited.
Much of the Opposition's attack was based on the assertion that it is this Government and this Home Secretary who have created a Crisis in the Prisons.
I have a book entitled "The Prison Crisis" by Peter Evans of The Times with a foreword by Sir Robert Mark.
The present Home Secretary and the previous Home Secretary told us that we have a Crisis in Our Prisons, but they have not used the Executive release provision.
It is wrong to suggest that the Crisis in the Prisons is of recent provenance, due to the over-use of imprisonment by the courts.
Mr. Chris Smith asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he plans any changes to penal policy in the light of the Howard League's proposals for reducing the prison population and easing the Prison Crisis published in the booklet, "Go Directly to Gaol", on 24 November, a copy of which has been sent to him.
Does the Home Secretary not see a link between the economic policies that have produced so much unemployment and the greedy, atavistic policies espoused by his Government for This Prison Crisis?
The Crisis in the Prisons has been caused simply because the prison system is incapable of dealing with the number of prisoners it has now or will have in the weeks, months and years to come.
If we are to solve the problem of imprisonment and the Crisis in Our Prisons, the time has come to ask a series of fundamental questions.
This bring us to the second matter which future historians will record about our generation - the Crisis in the Prisons.
Does the Home Secretary agree that part of the problem - we all agree that there is a Crisis in the Prisons - could well be solved by taking two simple and effective measures tonight - first, to release those who are currently in prison for non-payment of fines and, secondly, to release those who are in prison for non-payment of maintenance?
In view of the annual report that was published yesterday by Her Majesty's chief inspector of prisons, which graphically illustrated the unprecedented Crisis in Our Prisons, described by the chief inspector himself as, "bordering on the intolerable", may we have a full debate in the near future on the situation in the prison service?
As the Home Secretary will gladly confirm, the Crisis in Our Prisons did not begin last year or the year before.
My right hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Sparkbrook (Mr. Hattersley) and others who have spoken in the debate have illustrated clearly some of the basic facts about the present Crisis in Our Prisons.
Does the Minister agree that the present problem, serious though it is, is simply part of what can only be described as a widespread Crisis in Our Prisons - a crisis of overcrowding?
Would they not be a better means of tackling the Crisis in Our Prisons?
It is our long-standing belief that the recurring Crisis in Our Prisons is the consequence of overcrowding, which results from too many custodial sentences and too little punishment within the community.
The programme should also have included a Bill to deal with the Crisis in Our Prisons, by implementing at least part of Lord Justice Woolf's report.
The second dimension of the Bill is the Government's attempts to deal with the Prison Crisis in the United Kingdom in general.
It cannot be denied - I should be the last to deny it - that there is a Crisis in Our Prisons.
Before the right hon. Lady turns to the impending Crisis in Prisons, will she answer the question asked by my hon. Friend the Member for Waveney (Mr. Blizzard) about the cost of all the detention centres needed to house approximately 30,000 asylum applicants and the speed with which she would deliver that policy?
At Question Time today my noble friend Lord Dholakia called attention to the observations of the Director-General and Chief Inspector of Prisons about the serious Crisis in Our Prisons.
Similarly, following a Crisis in the Prisons there, a committee was set up in France.
No one can fail to argue that there is a Crisis in Our Prisons.
Does the Minister accept that less demand on custody, more use of bail, and less emphasis on imprisoning women and mentally ill offenders would alleviate the Present Prison Crisis to a certain extent?
Ironically, the success of our police forces in reaching their targets means that we have the current Crisis in Prisons, to which Members have referred.
In the light of our current Crisis in the Prisons, I might say that that policy is surely mad.
When I was first elected to the House of Commons, I wrote a series of articles called The Prisons Crisis, because the prison population had risen to over 40,000.
A last minute panic measure to conjure up extra prison capacity does nothing to address the long-term nature of Our Prison Crisis.
Any reasonable observer will forgive a little Government panic when unpredictable events take over, but what possible excuse is there for a Government to fail to heed not one, not several, but continuous and repeated warnings of Crisis in Our Prisons stretching back several years?
My Lords, this debate comes at a time of unprecedented Crisis in Our Prisons.
There are two elements at the root of the Present Prisons Crisis.
Will the Leader of the House ensure that the Chancellor of the Exchequer is available for that debate, so that he can explain how his decisions to freeze the Home Office budget and block new private finance initiative prison projects have contributed to the current Crisis in Our Prisons?
At the end of it he makes a number of points that relate particularly to the Home Secretary's actions and why he, among others, is culpable for the current Crisis in Our Prisons.
As Professor Rod Morgan, the former chairman of the Youth Justice Board who resigned, warned last week, we are standing on the brink of a Prisons Crisis.
This Prison Crisis was not unexpected - all the warning signs were there long before the media started covering the issue.
In fact, this document barely mentions the Crisis in Our Prisons".
But then earlier this month there was an interesting front-page report inThe Times, which stated: "The Government will not be able to build its way out of the Prison Crisis, Jack Straw suggested yesterday.
The right hon. Member for Sheffield, Brightside was right about another thing: the new Prime Minister shares the blame for the current Crisis in Our Prisons.
The Prisons Crisis, to which I shall refer, is one entirely of the Government's own making; for 10 years they have ignored the warnings that the rise in the prison population would outstrip the provision of prison places.
Thirdly, we must recognise the Crisis in Our Prisons - again, something that was alluded to by the hon. Member for Arundel and South Downs.
It is unfortunate that the Government find themselves trying to ensure greater independence in the appointment of judges, as only recently they have done far more to threaten the independence of the judiciary by forcing judges, without prior consultation and still without their agreement, into a Department where their budget is imperilled by the Prisons Crisis.
There will be a debate entitled "Prisons Crisis", followed by a debate on the performance of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
This House debated the Prisons Crisis four months ago.
Simultaneously, however, the Government have now agreed to spend around £3 billion to solve the Prison Crisis, and no one has blinked.
That is certainly badly needed, because we have a Crisis in Prisons.
There are some positive observations in the report, particularly what the chief inspector said about training and skills, but no one can doubt that we probably have the Worst Prison Crisis in our history and certainly the worst of any developed nation.
Another consequence of the Prisons Crisis is the impact on bail.
How have the Government reacted to the Crisis in Our Prisons?
It cost a huge amount of money - perhaps they did not take the right advice - and they are now unscrambling a lot of the work that was done on the project in response to the Prison Crisis.
They have almost doubled in the past 10 years, and can now be seen in the context of a Prison Crisis that Ann Owers said was predicted, predictable and fuelled by legislation and policies that ignored consequences, cost or effectiveness, together with an absence of coherent strategic direction.
Of course, they can make, and are right to make, a strong political point about prison building, but the Crisis in Prisons is now too serious and too urgent for political point-scoring of that kind by either side.
Does my hon. Friend agree that part of the Prisons Crisis could be tackled if the 11,000 foreign prisoners in England and Wales who had committed specific crimes were considered for deportation?
The reason why we have a Crisis in Our Prisons is that more and more people are committing crime - it is a bit of a no-brainer.
Unfortunately, however, many of the early release schemes that the Government have signed up to have been the result of the Crisis in the Prisons.
Is it not a disgrace that spouse beaters are avoiding jail because of the Prisons Crisis?
Why, if all this is known about some of the avoidable contributors to the Crisis in Our Prisons, on top of all the reports of inspectors, penal reformers, academics and other interested organisations, is no notice taken of recommendations designed to help resolve a crisis, unless they are initiated in-house or in-political party?
In essence, we found that failures of policy and implementation have led to a Prisons Crisis and an under-resourced, ineffective approach to sentencing, when set against the aim of reducing reoffending.
The Government are papering over the cracks of a Prison Crisis that is entirely of their own making and, as the author of that failure, the Justice Secretary appears incapable of providing a credible solution.
That injustice can be laid largely at the door of the Government, who simply lack the will and imagination to cope with a burgeoning Prison Crisis.
Can she reassure the House that there are no plans to leave the next Government the poison pill of a looming Prison Crisis?
The Opposition are desperate to find a Crisis in Our Prisons.
We have been saying for a while that Government policies would lead to a Prison Crisis, and they have.
The Government could bring in a new law to guarantee rights for victims of crime or deal with the meltdown in probation or tackle the Prisons Crisis, so can the Leader of the House tell us why they are wasting time with this PR exercise?
The Justice Secretary said at the Dispatch Box that he trusted his instinct ahead of hard statistical evidence - the same instinct that brought us the Work programme and that delivered a Prison Crisis has now brought us SARAH.
What will it take for the Secretary of State to accept that we are in the midst of a Prison Crisis?
“The Government cannot pretend any longer that there is no Crisis in Our Prisons.
Unless we continue using it, we will have an even greater Crisis in Our Prisons because they will be full of foreign criminals.
Can the Minister please tell the House when Ministers - with the notable exception of Simon Hughes, who has been brave enough to admit that there is a Crisis in Our Prisons - will stop fudging the public about what is happening in our prisons?
My hon. Friend refers to the Crisis in Our Prisons, which is a consistent theme coming out not just from this survey but from all the discussions that have taken place, including the representations we have received from both prison officers and former governors.
The highly regarded chief inspector was doing his job of telling the truth about the Government's Prison Crisis, but he was effectively sacked by the Justice Secretary.
Let me tell the right hon. Gentleman what a Real Prison Crisis looks like.
We have a Prisons Crisis here, with the chief inspector of prisons being sacked.
There is nothing to deal with the Crisis in Our Prisons; nothing to deal with the crisis in our courts; nothing to improve access to justice; nothing to improve advice services or to mitigate the attacks on civil and criminal legal aid overseen by the previous Lord Chancellor.
It should not be a surprise that we have this Crisis in Prisons when we look at how we have sold off the Prison Service to private companies such as Sodexo, which is, after all, a French catering company running prisons in places such as Northumberland.
We called the series “The Prisons Crisis”, on the basis that for the first time the prison population had gone over the 40,000 mark.
The whole House has welcomed the fact that the new Justice Secretary recognises the Crisis in Our Prisons and is committed to change.
But perhaps understandably, his brief address did not really begin to make clear the scale of the Crisis in Our Prisons.
We have waited some time for a parliamentary debate on the Crisis in Our Prisons.
Lest the Lord Chancellor take exception to the wording of today's motion - “That this House believes UK prisons are in crisis” - the noble Lord ended his excellent speech with these words: “In 1970, we faced a Prisons Crisis; today, we face a prisons scandal.
The Government are presiding over a Crisis in Our Prisons.
It cannot be right that prisoners, staff and, ultimately, the public are at risk from the Government's failure to get a grip on the Crisis in Our Prisons.
] The Prison Crisis is one that does not require laughter to solve its problems.
In the face of the scale of the Prison Crisis, the £10 million looks risibly small.
The Justice Secretary should have been here so that Members on both sides of the House could have scrutinised the decision and its impact on staff and the community, coming as it does at a time of an overcrowding Crisis in Our Prisons.
When will the Lord Chancellor, or whoever succeeds him - I rather hope it might be the noble Lord, Lord Faulks - recognise that the Crisis in Our Prisons cannot sensibly be tackled without a significant reduction in the number of prisoners and a significant increase in the number of properly trained staff with adequate support in relation to issues of mental health?