Suella Braverman has welcomed government plans to create an extra 10,000 prison places and conduct an urgent review of sentences for dangerous offenders.
Over the weekend it was announced by the government that up to £2.5 billion will fund modern and efficient prisons to create 10,000 extra spaces. The first new prison will be built at HMP Full Sutton, alongside the already well-performing maximum-security jail in operation at the site. This, along with further building works, will be subject to government working through the best-value-for-money options.
The 10,000 places will be in addition to the new prisons that have already been announced at Wellingborough and Glen Parva which will provide 3,360 places by 2023. The new funding will also be used to bring previously decommissioned prison places back into use through extensive refurbishment and maintenance work.
Justice Secretary, Rt Hon Robert Buckland QC MP, said:
“The Prime Minister is putting prisons at the heart of our bold plan to create a justice system which cuts crime and protects law-abiding people. More and better prison places means less re-offending and a lower burden on the taxpayer in the future.
“Boris’s vision for policing shows this Government is serious about fighting crime. It is vital we have a world-leading prison estate to keep criminals off our streets and turn them into law-abiding citizens when they have paid their debt to society.
“Modern jails are best-placed to achieve that and will provide us with crucial stability in our prison estate for many years to come so we can keep criminals behind bars, rehabilitate them, and better protect the public.”
The long-term building programme will reduce overcrowding and create a modern, efficient estate that is sustainable into the future.
Further, today the Prime Minister will host leaders from the police, probation and prison sectors at Downing Street to discuss how to cut crime and improve the criminal justice system. This comes as Mr Johnson announced over the weekend that an urgent review will be held into sentences for dangerous offenders who have been convicted of serious violence or sexual assault.
The Prime Minister said:
"Dangerous criminals must be kept off our streets, serving the sentences they deserve - victims want to see it, the public want to see it and I want to see it.
"To ensure confidence in the system, the punishment must truly fit the crime. We have all seen examples of rapists and murderers let out too soon or people offending again as soon as they're released.
"This ends now. We want them caught, locked up, punished and properly rehabilitated."
Local MP Suella Braverman has welcomed the extra prison places and sentencing review, saying that convicted criminals should receive a sentence that properly reflects the severity of their crimes.
Mrs Braverman said:
“I welcome the Government’s announcement to create 20,000 new prison places and hold an urgent review into sentencing for dangerous offenders.
“Time and again we hear of people convicted for serious violence or sexual assault who don’t receive a sentence that properly reflects the severity of their crimes. This understandably frustrates ordinary law abiding citizens who want to see a justice system which properly punishes people for their crimes and which deters people from committing crime in the first place.
“It’s also right that our prison system can accommodate convicted criminals who deserve to be there, rather than them being given suspended sentences, and the extra 20,000 prison places will ensure that more criminals will go to prison so that they can be punished and rehabilitated.”
Photo by Andrew Parsons/ i-images (link)
