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The former justice secretary’s views come in a wide-ranging interview released this week as part of the podcast series, “The Lord Chancellors”, hosted by The University of Law (ULaw).
Prisoners serving long jail terms for the most serious crimes could be let out early under plans expected from the Government-commissioned review led by a former Lord Chancellor.
The controversial measures - which could see thousands of some of the worst offenders released - are needed if any impact is to be made on the current crisis of prison overcrowding, David Gauke says.
Gauke, a former Conservative Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary, has been appointed by the Labour Government to recommend measures to tackle the crisis. His final report is due in May.
He says that targeting the long-term prison population is the only way to make significant inroads into prison overcrowding which has reached record levels and is at breaking point.
“Those who are serving relatively long sentences will have to be released sooner if we are serious about not exceeding capacity,” he says.
“We have run out of space. There’s no getting away from the fact that…almost any proposals that we make in this area…will have opposition.”
“They will be controversial. They will be difficult. But nonetheless they will be necessary. “
The focus had been on plans to release short-term prisoners, but it was long-term prisoners who were driving the increase in the prison population.
They were being sentenced to longer and longer jail terms, as a result of knee-jerk reactions to politicians over the years to particular high-profile crimes.
No government had stood back and said: ‘What is the size of the prison population we want…do we really want a prison population that has gone from 40 or so thousand to 85000 and could potentially go up to 112,000?”
Offenders serving the longest jail terms include those guilty of crimes such as murder and manslaughter, grievous bodily harm, armed robbery, serious sexual and violent assaults including rape, drug-related offences and trafficking.
Murder is excluded from the terms of the sentencing review however and it is unlikely that the proposals would include rapists.
Gauke, a Conservative MP who served under Theresa May, is also expected to call for more so-called ‘problem-solving’ courts, where judges take a more active role in ensuring that offenders are receiving the drug, alcohol or other rehabilitation measures they need.
His independent review panel was appointed by the Labour government last autumn. It has published draft findings and its final recommendations are keenly anticipated.
The former justice secretary’s views come in a wide-ranging interview released this week as part of the podcast series, “The Lord Chancellors”, hosted by The University of Law (ULaw) which can be viewed on our YouTube channel.
They will fuel the heated debate about sentencing in the UK and the role of the independent Sentencing Council in advising judges.
Recent advice published by the Council, which recommends judges obtain background reports when sentencing any ethnic minorities and transgender people, has led to accusations of ‘two-tier justice’.
Gauke, who held several key ministerial positions including Secretary of State for work and pensions, chief secretary to the Treasury and finally Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for justice, declined to comment on the current dispute.
He resigned from the Government in 2019 in opposition to Boris Johnson’s Brexit strategy. “I feel I had quite a good political death”, he says.
Asked about the current state of politics, Gauke said he did not believe that President Trump had any right to be called the leader of the free world.
“I think his instincts are very authoritarian.”
The Conservative Party ‘is probably the weakest it has been in its history."