The Guardian Website 07/12/10
- Justice Secretary Kaen Clarke
- Aims to bring down 60% plus reoffending rates for short-term prisoners
- Current prison population is 85,500, wants to reduce by 3,000 by 2014
- "We have to stop this revolving door where people go in prison, serve their time and within less than a year half of them have committed more crime"
- Ministry of Justice has earmarked up to 6 smaller jails for possible closure, incl: Dartmoor, Shepton Mallet, Shrewsbury, North Sea Camp Lincolnshire
- 2009: 52,671 offenders did community service, just under a third failed to complete their hours or were convicted of further offence
- Green paper comes after UK govt promised the ECHR will introduce draft legislation to extend voting rights for prioners:
- Thousands of offenders with mental health, alcohol or drug abuse problems diverted into treatment programmes.- Fewer minors remanded in custody.
- A 50% sentence reduction, rather than the current 30% available, for defendants who plead guilty early.
- An end to the recall to prison of those released on licence who breach their release conditions for technical reasons.
- Reform of sentences for public protection, with the minimum time before release increased from two to five years.
- Accelerated consideration for release for the 3,000 prisoners jailed indefinitely for the public protection who have already passed their tariff date.
- Prisons made places of hard work to prepare offenders for life outside.
- Moves to allow the private and voluntary sectors to bid to run pilot community payback schemes, including unpaid work, with payment by results.
- The extension of schemes under which offenders apologise to victims and make reparations before sentencing.
- An extension to the Peterborough pilot scheme of financing rehabilitation work in prison through the use of a social impact bond using funds from charitable trusts.
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