Lord Dholakia responding to the prisons’ minister (Lord Timpson) Statement repeated in the House of Lords on Thursday displayed his thorough knowledge of the continuing crisis in our prisons with erudite wisdom and workable suggestions on how to fix it. Highlighting the interminableness of the problems facing prisons and the probation service, Lord Dholakia stated: ‘overcrowding in our prisons has been in the headlines for as long as I can remember.’ Citing a longstanding lack of overall cohesive planning to sort out the problem, Lord Dholakia emphasised that the Liberal Democrats had ‘long called for a review of criminal sentencing’, which was now finally happening. Stating that, ‘no one seems to have looked at overall solutions that could resolve the problem’, he stressed the need for pragmatic outcomes.
Lord Dholakia suggested what this meant in practice was, ‘taking a holistic approach to rehabilitation and community supervision’, that would lead to a ‘cut in reoffending’. Further, he urged in the strongest terms, ‘a presumption against sentences of 12 months or fewer’. This, whilst going against the new government’s implementation of lengthier sentencing powers in the magistrates’ courts of up to 12 months, would, he believed, ‘facilitate rehabilitation in the community’. This is a well-known issue, where short term sentences often lead to the loss of accommodation and employment with foreseen problems arising as newly released prisoners struggle to return to normal life under more challenging circumstances than would happen serving a community order outside of prison. Emphasising this point, Lord Dholakia described the latest proposals as offering, ‘short-term solutions but do not alleviate the problems or provide the long-term solutions we badly need.’
Outlining how we, as a country, were top of the list in Europe for the ‘overuse of imprisonment’ at over twice the rate of Germany, as a comparator, Lord Dholakia highlighted the inadequacies of the ‘piece-meal approach’ there has been to sentencing legislation. Pointing out, ‘[t]he previous administration had a golden opportunity to set up a royal commission on the justice system’, to fix the issues once and for all, he lamented, ‘but this was kicked into the long-grass.’
Welcoming main thrust of ‘the proposals to reduce the prison population’, Lord Dholakia finished off by questioning the Minister. Stating, ‘[w]e should seriously look at the work of the Sentencing Council’, he recommended that a, ‘legislative obligation to take note of the prison population before a sentence is passed’ should be mandatory. Highlighting another ongoing issue within the justice system, Lord Dholakia, questioned ‘[h]ow the review plan[s] to address concerns about disproportionate sentencing of minority groups and marginalised communities?’ Ending with sentiments many can get behind, Lord Dholakia asked if ‘the Minister would agree that ploughing more resources into expanding the prison system to hold an ever-growing number of prisoners is far from the most sensible way to tackle crime?’
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