June 28, 2005: Prison Population Increasing Fast

We know that the number of prisoners in England and Wales is increasing.  However, the prison population may be growing faster than we might suppose. The Howard League for Penal Reform has revealed that the prison population has increased by the size of one new prison in just the last four days. The number of men, women and children in prison has increased by 123 since last Friday (24 June) and today (28 June) stands at 76,202.

Howard League director Frances Crook commented:

"An increase of 123 people in prison is equivalent to a small prison roughly the size of Askham Grange, Blantyre House, Kingston, Dorchester, Brockhill or Werrington. If the prison population keeps increasing exponentially we will need a new prison the size of Brixton every four weeks just to maintain the current levels of overcrowding."

"We have to give up our love affair with custody as overcrowded prisons feed the crime problem rather than solving it. The majority of people who commit crimes should be making amends and taking responsibility for what they have done in the community."