Away from the Labour meltdown, Gove and Herbert are building the case for a Conservative government

The Labour meltdown means that I have been neglecting to adequately cover significant Tory announcements.  There was last week's education announcements from Michael Gove and I recommend this webcameron video for a summary of those (there are also these Platform essays from Reform and Policy Exchange).  There was also Monday's announcement on prison reform by Shadow Secretary of State for Justice Nick Herbert.

There's a new campaign page at conservatives.com that summarises Mr Herbert's approach to prisons.  Here are the bullet points:

• Conservatives would scrap the disastrous early release scheme, and build emergency prison places.
• Double the sentencing powers of magistrates to 12 months and repeal any new restrictions on their ability to hand down suspended sentences.
• Introduce honesty in sentencing so that convicted criminals serve a minimum sentence handed down to them by the judge.
• Ensure sufficient prison capacity to hold all those sentenced by the courts – and reform prison regimes to break the cycle of re-offending.

Some key quotations from Nick Herbert's impressive speech:

On overcrowding: "Some 17,000 prisoners are doubling up in cells - twice as many as when the current Government came to power. More than 1,000 cells designed for two people are occupied by three. That means that nearly a quarter of the entire prison population is housed in cells designed for one fewer person... In the last few months there has been no shortage of warnings about the scale of the crisis. Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor has said "the system is stretched to breaking point". On Friday the previous Lord Chief Justice, Lord Woolf, said "we are in a "critical situation." And putting it more bluntly, the current Lord Chief Justice, Lord Phillips, said the week before, "we simply cannot go on like this". I agree."

The government has failed to plan for increased prison places: "Only three new prisons in the past 10 years were commissioned by the Labour Government; the rest were commissioned by the previous Conservative Administration. In the year when the Government came to power, the number of new prison places was 4,716. By 2005, the number of new places had fallen to 940. During the current Lord Chancellor's previous watch, prison capacity building fell by 86 per cent over three years."

With some notable exceptions prisons are not full of part-time offenders: "It has become commonplace to suggest that prison should be reserved for serious, persistent or violent offenders. But already the largest single offence category of prisoners is violent offenders (27 per cent of the prison population) - and this is growing as a proportion of the prison population. At least half the prison population are violent or sexual offenders. Prison is largely reserved for repeat offenders. Of those receiving an immediate custodial sentence, only one in ten are first time offenders. Most will have committed serious offences. Only 12 per cent of those sentenced to prison have no previous convictions... The prisons crisis is not, therefore, caused by the volume of people receiving short sentences, or the jailing of first time offenders. Prison is largely reserved for serious, violent and persistent offenders. Contrary to popular myth, our prisons simply do not contain vast numbers of non-violent, first-time offenders doing time for licence fee evasion or summary motoring offences."

Gordon Brown's broken promise on foreign prisoners: "11,000 foreign nationals are now in custody - 13.5 per cent of the prison population - and whole prisons are now dedicated to holding this category of prisoner. If Gordon Brown kept his promise to deport foreign national criminals, considerable space would be freed up."

The Early Release Scheme is the wrong response to prison overcrowding: "If we are serious about dealing with violent, serious and persistent criminals, the right response to this increase is to accommodate the additional demand. The wrong response is to allow prison numbers to reach crisis point, and then try desperately to reduce them. But this is exactly the course that the Government is taking."

The Probation Service is overstretched: "As Lord Woolf warned on Friday, punishments in the community "only work if they're properly resourced." Yet in an already overstretched probation service, some officers already supervise up to 80 offenders - and the Prisons Minister indicated last week that the numbers will fall further. Placing a bigger burden on the probation service by mandating greater use of community sentences, while simultaneously reducing the level of supervision, is not a credible policy."

Britain is not keeping enough people in prison for our crime rate: "There is no correct level of imprisonment. A prison population is partly the consequence of the crime rate, and Britain is a high crime country. Compared to the number of prisoners to recorded offences, we are below the developed-world average for prisoner numbers."

Overcrowding makes rehabilitation harder: "[Prisons] should be more than human warehouses: they should be places of education, hard work, rehabilitation and restoration. But prisoners in public sector jails spend on average 26 hours a week on purposeful activity - less than the Government's (very modest) target of four hours per day. Such 'purposeful activity' can fall a long way short of the education, training and work programmes which are needed to rehabilitate offenders."

We need a revolution in the design of prisons: "Prisons would be designed around reducing recidivism. Safety and security should remain paramount, but prisons could look very different. They would embody a recognition that the majority of prisoners are deeply dysfunctional individuals with chaotic backgrounds. Most of them are young men who go off the rails early in their lives - growing up without fathers, excluded from school, taking drugs, joining gangs - who need firm but fair assistance and focused attention to help them take some control of their own lives and learn responsibility.  In 2003, over one third of the prison population were held over 50 miles from their committal court town and 12,500 were held over 100 miles away. Smaller, local secure units would provide better opportunities for re-settlement and reduce the extensive amount of travel between prisons. Building courts attached to new prisons would reduce delays and inefficiencies, as already happens in Canada. Special secure units could get prisoners off drugs and treat mentally-ill offenders."

We could sell the old Victorian prisons and build facilities for the 21st century: "Policy Exchange's research has shown that there is huge potential for remodelling the current prison estate and selling off some of the oldest Victorian prisons in inner city, high value locations, either building on a new site or rebuilding on the same site (with a smaller footprint) a modern prison that is cheaper to maintain."

At the end of his speech, Mr Herbert announced four reviews:

1. Lord Kingsland will chair a review of sentencing;
2. Edward Garnier MP will look at management of the prison estate and prison building needs;
3. David Burrowes MP will examine new ways of managing prisons including education services;
4. Henry Bellingham MP will look at life after prison - including improving the support networks for released offenders.

Comments

[Votedave]

"I recommend this webcameron video."

So would I. I would also like to encourage everyone on here to post on the Webcameron forums as well. As far as I can see only myself and Tony Makara do so.

[Sean Fear]

Good stuff. I'm also aware that Nick Herbert wants to end the juristiction of the European Court of Human Rights in this country.

[Tony Makara]

"11,000 foreign nationals are now in custody - 13.5 per cent of the prison population"

A policy of immediate deportation should exist for all foreigners who receive a custodial sentence. These figures are shocking.

[David Belchamber]

Very important point from Sean:

"I'm also aware that Nick Herbert wants to end the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights in this country".

Nick Herbert - and David Cameron - wants to end that but are the tories commissioning a draft of our own Bill of Human Rights to rpelace it? We have been told by opponents that it won't work.

What is the truth? Nick Herbert hasn't set up a review body on that one.

[Giovanni]

Bootcamp for a certain category of offenders should also be considered. This is an option the Americans have and ought to be adopted by the UK. UNless it's drug dealers, murderers or sex offenders, "nasty" crimes such as these, for other convicted criminals the option of, say, three to five years mandatory military service could be made available.
The army could be a suitable vehicle for rehabilitation. And it would also help the military with their manpower problems! :-)

[Derek]

By all means let's toughen up prisons, but why inflict these dregs on the poor over-stretched military? It might have been ok in Wellington's day, but the modern military is no place for them.

Why not get Joe Arpaia over from Arizona. His methods would make the criminal classes sit up and take notice. See HERE for more details. His tents would also ease the overcrowding - Dartmoor would be a good place for them.

[Matt Wright]

You don't have to inflict it on the military. You could recruit ex-military to run boot camps. It should be aimed at young males getting into repeat offending. It would be the making of many young men and the good ones could go on to have a career in the forces. We should do it.

Matt

[Edward]

This is great stuff - the sort of sense Reform has been talking for years.

[passing leftie]

This is all great, original stuff. The real politics of "and". Build more, smaller prisons and lock more people up for longer. That's the American model - it really works well.

It's a great idea to bring back National Service, too perhaps add a dash of corporal punishment to appease the "Proctor" wing of the party. It's lovely to see all these posters sitting comfortably and experiencing a frisson of pleasure at the suffering of all these young scallywags. I think it should be compulsory for anyone who thinks we should bring it back - they can lead by example

We could also save a fortune if we reintroduced capital punishment for rapists and murderers. Why lock them up at the taxpayer's expense when we can hang them?

Seriously, though, one of the most important and highly neglected aspects of the prison regime is proper food. Lots of studies have shown that prisoners who are receiving a properly balanced diet with the correct micronutrients behave a lot better and are less likely to reoffend. Eating your greens could be the punishment!

Incidentally, where is the money coming from for more prisons and more prisoners? Raise taxes, or cut other service? Do let me know.

[George Hinton]

Perhaps a return to Blair's old speech about tough on crime and its causes.
Clearly there has been no real attempt to control crime, rather the police services have been hampered with the introduction of targets and quotas.
As for criminals, they have been having an easy time of it, as a result of overcrowding which has spawned the early release scheme, and the misguided practice of giving them the doubt and allowing the juduciary to make and influence their own political agenda, thus handing out weak sentencing.
Additionally we have a set of laws that mitigate against the victim, the " I know my rights brigade ", who unfortunately have drowned out the riposte which is " what about your social responsibilities ".
The party needs to propound a strong law and order policy, it is often the poor and disadvantaged who are hardest hit by crime, the very people that NuLab claim to represent.
As for new prisons, build loads, we will need the extra space in due course to 1)bang up all the alien crims that we have allowed in, 2)the additional waves of immigrants that will surely arrive with the extension of the Schengen Agreement to the A8 accession nations, which will weaken security and immigration controls on the Eastern borders and 3) the inevitable increasing tide of humanity that wants to come to the UK from Africa and Asia and elsewhere.
As for Joe Arpaia from Arizona (Derek | November 28, 2007 at 19:49) he is blessed with good weather and a judicial system that allows his practices. The Human Rights brigade would be up in arms, Liberty demanding the EU do something, and the Howard League no doubt advocating insurrection.
As for siting new jails, why not The Falklands, a challenging environment and quite secure from breakouts, or Orkney/Shetland. Prisons are for punishment not social interaction and I see no reason for outside visits.

[Sean Fear]

"Incidentally, where is the money coming from for more prisons and more prisoners? Raise taxes, or cut other service? Do let me know."

From cutting benefits to the poor, hopefully.

[George Hinton]

"Incidentally, where is the money coming from for more prisons and more prisoners? Raise taxes, or cut other service? Do let me know."

From cutting benefits to the poor, hopefully.
Sean Fear | November 29, 2007 at 11:14

How about from cutting MP's expenses and allowances and all that lovely lolly that the Unions get from NuLab under the modernisation and communications scam.
Crime reduction generates its own savings.
Prisoners, as has been said here not a while ago, be used on treadills to generate clean renewable eco friendly electricity which can be sold on.
Making prisoners work to cover their board and lodging costs.
It doesn't take rocket science to work out how to make the prison service less expensive and a darn sight more effective.

[passing leftie]

Sean said:
From cutting benefits to the poor, hopefully.

I'm glad you are entering into the spirit of the thread - it's really hotting up. It's turning into a real sado-masochistic Tory love in. You want to get rid of the human rights act, George wants to send them to Falkland Islands, Matt wants to reintroduce National Service. All I need is someone to demand capital punishment and I'll can call "House."

It's funny that's always extra money for killing people or locking them up, but anything else is a waste of public money.

[Yet Another Anon]

If the UK left the EU and The European Court of Justice and European Court of Human Rights then it would need no Human Rights Act and could reintroduce Capital Punishment.

One solution to prison overcrowding would be to reduce cell sizes, convicts could be held in solitary confinement in cells a quarter the size of current size, a level could fit two cells one directly above the other, there is no need for prisoners to be abe to stand up.

[Cinnamon]

Outsource jails to Siberia or China to warehouse those prisoners who cannot be rehabilitated -- and make the 3rd serious offence (murder, GBH, robbery, rape, kidnap and similiar crimes) a mandatory life sentence without parole.