People in Salford have given their thoughts on the increasing prison population in the UK that has resulted in the Government asking judges not to send criminals to prison.
The Ministry of Justice have reported that the average prison sentence has increased by 57% since 2010 and promised changes are being made.
The issues stem back as far the COVID-19 pandemic that ultimately slowed down the flow of trials, which has caused them to become over-populated, but critics say the government has not invested in prisons.
Members of the Salford community have displayed their thoughts on the recent changes.
One Salford local, Mark Morgan said: “I think the wrong people are in prison, so that’s the reason why there’s so much overcrowding.
“I don’t think delayed sentences are the way to go, but unfortunately you only have a finite number of buildings to incarcerate people.”
With the lack of space Alex Chalk released a statement on Monday on the government website that focused on short sentencing reforming saying: “I can announce today that we are doubling the number of GPS tags available to the court, to ensure that offenders can be monitored to track that they are going to work and also to ensure their freedom is curtailed in the evenings and at weekends.”
The plan also has a proposed £400 plan to install 800 more rapid deployment cells, to counter the growing increase of sentences with a reported 557 spaces remaining.
A fundamental shake-up of sentencing policy that takes dangerous offenders off the streets for longer while cutting low-level crime has been outlined today by Lord Chancellor @AlexChalkChelt.
Read more: https://t.co/QcrdI3RiTH pic.twitter.com/c7yL4aiiDJ
— Ministry of Justice (@MoJGovUK) October 16, 2023
With the plan aiming to reform prisoners, with 50% of people who leave prison reoffending with in 12 months of being released.
As it is assumed that the longer sentences for prisoners with minor crimes, go in as offenders and are released as hardened criminals.
This why the proposed plan aims to keep more dangerous and threating offenders in prison, with Alex Chalk MP tweeting: “Rapists will be made to serve every day of their prison term under lock and key.”
21-year-old Jake Morley said: “I think it’s really really bad. I think they should be going to prison for longer, I don’t think the sentences are long enough as it is.
“The fact that they’re not going to be put in prison at all is a joke.”
However, there has been concerns shown by people in Salford regarding the shorter curfewed sentences, with many fearing that they will use the opportunity to abuse the system.
Ann Bird, 75, said “I think it’s disgusting really. People now know they can do the robberies and they’re not gonna be put away for it.”
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