I rise to speak briefly to this group of amendments, which I strongly support. I declare my interest again in the register as a trustee and vice-chair of the Prison Reform Trust. We have already debated Amendments 215 to 218, principally regarding primary carers, which I believe are closely related to today’s amendments on short sentences, so I will not delay the Committee by repeating the arguments.
However, by way of further background, it should be noted that the prison population, as we have heard, has risen by 74% in the last 30 years and is currently projected to rise by a further 20,000 by 2026, with millions being spent on providing additional prison places. Yet there appears to be no link between the prison population and levels of crime, according to the National Audit Office.
More than 40,000 people were sent to prison to serve a sentence in 2020, the majority of whom had committed a non-violent offence, and almost half were sentenced to serve six months or less. Crucially, as many organisations have pointed out, including Revolving Doors and Women in Prison, short prison sentences are proven to be less effective than community sentences at reducing reoffending.
Of course, short-term prison sentences have a particularly harmful effect on women and primary carers, as we have debated. It is important to note that in a Parliamentary Written Answer on 30 June 2021, more than 500 women were in prison on a sentence of less than two years. We have already heard from my noble friend Lord Dubs the economic case against short sentences. In addition, the National Audit Office estimated that the cost of looking after short-sentence prisoners, not including education and healthcare, was £286 million a year.
It is also interesting to note, as we have heard tonight, public attitudes to prison sentences, particularly short sentences. I know that the Government take an interest in this. In a survey conducted in 2018 by Crest Advisory, fewer than one in 10 people said that having more people in prison was the most effective way to
deal with crime. Early intervention, better parenting, discipline in schools and better rehabilitation were all cited as more effective responses.
Similarly, Revolving Doors undertook a survey which found that 80% of the public think that the theft of daily essentials such as food, sanitary products and nappies does not warrant a prison sentence, and that 74% of the public think that people with drug and alcohol addictions should receive treatment programmes not prison sentences.
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It is clear to me that robust, effective community sentences are preferable to a short, disruptive and cost-heavy prison sentence. Therefore, when considering sentences there should be a presumption against short prison sentences, as laid out in the amendment. To reinforce this position, we can look at the experience in Scotland, where a presumption against prison sentences of 12 months or less was introduced in July 2019 following its successful introduction of three months or less in 2011, leading to many more community sentences and a consequential reduction in short sentences. Community Justice Scotland stated that evidence shows that short-term prison sentences are not effective in meeting a person’s needs and reducing their likelihood of reoffending, and in fact do more harm than good.
We must ensure that as we try to make a real shift away from short prison sentences to community sentences, members of the judiciary have real confidence in and knowledge of the options available to them with community sentences. Magistrates, in particular, and judges, sometimes, raise with me a number of problems with community sentences, which my noble friend Lord Ponsonby mentioned in his opening remarks: first, the number of people who reappear before them having failed to complete a community sentence, with the consequence that a short prison sentence is the only option open to them; secondly, and related to that, poor local supervision of community sentences; thirdly, the lack of capacity in local areas to deliver support of community sentences, especially those with a treatment requirement; and, fourthly and finally, sometimes a lack of detailed knowledge of community sentences with such a treatment requirement.
There are a number of ways we can address these problems. The first is better understanding of treatment requirements. They essentially cover three areas: mental health, alcohol addiction and drug addiction. As these issues are often interrelated, sentences should consider not just one of the treatment requirements but, where appropriate, more than one treatment requirement at the same time to meet the often complex needs of the individual to ensure the best possibility of successful completion of the sentence. To assist the judiciary in this, information about the complex needs of individuals should be presented to the court at the earliest opportunity, combining assessment information from liaison and diversion services and probation pre-sentence reports.
Secondly, we need real investment in local mental health, alcohol and drug services so that members of the judiciary have confidence that the sentence they impose can be delivered. Thirdly, as a consequence of the reconstruction of the National Probation Service,
improved supervision must be rolled out. Fourthly, there must be better training of the judiciary to ensure that the options for community sentences are well understood. Fifthly and finally, as a member of the Government’s advisory board for women offenders I say that there is a good example in the Government’s strategy for women offenders, which clearly supports a significant shift to community sentences and recognises the need to invest in locally based women’s centres as the hub for the supervision and support of sentenced women.
Taken together, I believe the presumption against short sentences would be successfully introduced, with overarching benefits across the whole criminal justice system, and therefore I strongly support these amendments. I hope the Minister will accept the arguments.