Oxfordshire’s police and crime commissioner hit out at reports of plans to delay sentencing some rapists and other crooks – as there isn’t the prison space to hold them.
Senior presiding judge Lord Edis ordered judges to delay sentencing convicted criminals currently on bail who face all but guaranteed prison time, The Times newspaper reported. It came amid concerns that prisons were nearing capacity.
Among the criminals who could have their sentencing hearings adjourned were rapists and some burglars, it was said.
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Responding to the reports, Thames Valley police and crime commissioner Matthew Barber told the Oxford Mail: “The challenge of prison places is real, but delaying sentencing for serious offences cannot be the solution.
“Justice delayed is justice denied. The criminal justice system is already too slow, and the idea of deferring sentencing would have a huge impact on victims and could increase the risk to the public.”
The Ministry of Justice said it was ‘categorical that the most serious offenders should be sent to prison’, while those deemed a risk to public safety should be remanded in custody pending their trial or sentencing.
“Reports to the contrary are false,” a spokesperson said.
The UK’s prison population has increased substantially since the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and, according to the latest figures, there are now 88,016 prisoners – with space for around 650 more inmates.
Prison Governors’ Association president Andrea Albut told The Daily Telegraph recently that England’s jails were ‘bust’ of space. Male facilities were running at more than 99.6 per cent capacity and women’s prisons at 96 per cent.
Last year, the government launched ‘Operation Safeguard’ putting police forces on notice that it might require prisoners to be held in police station cells, after a surge in overcrowding.
Police and crime commissioner Mr Barber said Thames Valley Police was supporting the prison service with ‘limited use of police cells’.
It is understood that cells at only Abingdon and Milton Keynes police stations have been used to house prisoners.
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Tana Adkin KC of barristers’ body the Criminal Bar Association, said judges would continue to follow sentencing guidelines when dealing with serious offenders whose crimes required immediate jail term.
But she warned that prison crowding had reached a crisis point, blaming ‘more than 15 years of disjointed central planning and underfunding’.
Ms Adkin, who earlier this year was involved in the murder trial of Botley killer Eugen Coman, said: “The overriding duty of any government is to safeguard its citizens from harm. Judges will continue to uphold that basic principle when faced with the current challenges our criminal justice system is experiencing.
“The management of cases, however, is especially difficult with diminished resources and with prison overcrowding that has reached a critical point.”
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