The government’s plans to build its way out of prison overcrowding came under attack last week from the authors of a seven-year investigation into the criminal justice system.

Rethinking Crime and Punishment, a programme funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, said abandoning the £2.3bn scheme for ‘Titan’ prisons and spending the money instead on strengthening community sentences would cut the need for prison places and reduce reoffending.

Author Rob Allen, director of the International Centre for Prison Studies at King’s College London, described the Titan scheme to create 10,000 prison places as ‘a huge wasted opportunity’.

A manifesto published by the foundation last week proposes investing the money instead in measures such as intensive offender management, tracking and restorative justice. Ministry of Justice (MoJ) figures show that the reoffending rate following a short custodial sentence is 59.7%, while the reoffending rate following a community ­sentence is 37.9%.

Public education accounts for nearly £100m of how the foundation recommends spending the money saved (see box). Allen said research shows that public opinion is ‘not as punitive as is often thought... Given options about how to spend money, people rank prison rather low down the list of things’.

An ICM poll published by the MoJ last week suggested that the public think reforming offenders to cut reoffending is as important as punishment. However, the study found that only 25% of the public understood what makes up a community sentence.

In another contribution to the debate, the Prison Reform Trust this week called for a permanent sentencing commission to reverse the ‘excessive politicisation of sentencing’.

Its report rejected the idea of a US-style sentencing grid, as set out in a consultation by the independent sentencing commission working party.

The trust’s version of the commission would offer judges guidance to prevent ‘sentence inflation’, advise ministers of the impact of new laws on the prison population and promote public understanding of sentencing policy and practice.

The idea of creating a structured sentencing framework and permanent sentencing commission – proposed by Lord Carter in his reviews of prisons – has also been strongly criticised in separate consultation responses published recently by a group of six High Court judges, put together by the Senior Presiding Judge, the Council of HM Circuit Judges and the Magistrates Association.

See also Rozenberg

At a glance

Rethinking Crime and Punishment proposes spending £400m a year over six years on community alternatives to prison. Among the measures are:

  • Stronger community supervision through the probation service and the voluntary sector (£840m over six years);
  • More liaison with judges and magistrates about community options, and more opportunities for sentencers to review individual cases (£374m over six years);
  • Better communications with the public to build awareness and confidence in community alternatives (£92m over six years); and
  • Special measures for the most vulnerable groups in prison: women, children and people with mental health problems (£975m over six years).