The prison system in England and Wales is teetering on the brink of collapse due to an overreliance on long sentences and a misguided focus on seeming “tough on crime,” according to the interim findings of an official review led by former Conservative justice secretary David Gauke. The scathing report warns that successive governments’ shortsighted “penal populism” – where harsher punishment is seen as the only solution – has left prisons dangerously overcrowded and probation services critically overstretched.
Gauke, who served as justice secretary for 18 months under Theresa May, pulled no punches in his assessment. He argued that to truly address the crisis in prison capacity, politicians must “have an honest conversation about who we send to prison, and for how long.” The decision by Labour ministers to release thousands of inmates early last year to alleviate overcrowding was, Gauke said, the direct result of “decades of haphazard policymaking and underinvestment in the criminal justice system.”
Prioritizing Punishment Over Reducing Reoffending
At the heart of the problem, according to the interim report, is the way successive administrations have consistently prioritized longer prison terms over more effective methods of cutting reoffending rates. This “vacuum” of joined-up thinking, where sentences are increased for specific crimes with no consideration for the wider impact on the prison system, has siphoned vital resources away from probation and alternative sentencing options.
Punishment will always be a central aim of the criminal justice system but it is not the only aim; and prison is not the only form of punishment.
– David Gauke, former justice secretary
Soaring Incarceration and Recall Rates
The scale of the crisis is laid bare by the report’s stark statistics. The number of people behind bars in England and Wales surpassed 85,000 at the end of last year – a staggering increase of more than 40,000 since 1993. The probation service is similarly at breaking point, with over 240,000 offenders under supervision in September 2024, up by 100,000 compared to three decades ago.
Compounding the pressure on the system is the increased use of recall, where a released prisoner is returned to custody for breaching their parole conditions. The recall population reached nearly 13,000 at the end of last year, a dramatic rise from around 9,000 in 2020 and fewer than 100 in 1993. Gauke’s report makes clear that this punitive approach is unsustainable.
Calls for a “Radical” Sentencing Overhaul
The Gauke review, a manifesto commitment by Keir Starmer’s Labour government, is examining alternatives to custody including scrapping short sentences altogether and dealing with more offenders in the community. Its final recommendations, due in late spring, are expected to propose sweeping changes to sentencing guidelines, with the revised rules to be implemented in courts from early next year.
Prisons minister James Timpson, the former chair of the Prisons Reform Trust appointed by Starmer last July, is known as an advocate for reducing incarceration levels and improving conditions for inmates and their families. As justice secretary in 2019, Gauke himself questioned whether prison terms of six months or less should be abolished completely given their apparent ineffectiveness.
There has been an underinvestment in probation and other alternatives that can provide rehabilitation and reduce reoffending.
– Richard Atkinson, president of the Law Society
A System on the Brink
With prisons in England and Wales now officially at “crisis point” according to the Law Society, Gauke’s full report can’t come soon enough. However, reversing decades of failed policy will be no easy task – it will require bold and decisive action to refocus the criminal justice system on rehabilitation, tackle entrenched recidivism, and reserve prison for only the most serious offenders.
The political courage to enact such “radical” sentencing reforms may be in short supply, with the spectre of tabloid accusations of being “soft on crime” an ever-present threat. But as the Gauke review warns, the alternative is a prison system that continues its alarming downward spiral, failing victims, criminals and wider society. If this is to be a true watershed moment, the status quo is simply not an option.
