‘Jam tomorrow!’ Ann Widdecombe blasts shambles of UK prison system as judges told don’t jail rapists
Ann Widdecombe reacts to news that the Ministry of Justice will delay sentencing rapists and burglars amid prison overcrowding.
The former Minister of State for Prisons, Ann Widdecombe, has slammed the Ministry of Justice after Crown Court judges were ordered not to jail rapists and burglars as prison overcrowding reaches a crisis point.
During a conversation with Patrick Christys on GBN Tonight, Widdecombe said: “I just cannot believe what's happening.”
“This lot have been in for the past 13 years. You know, it's not as if they've suddenly inherited a situation. I don't know what Jeremy Hunt has been doing.”
Ann Widdecombe discusses Ministry of Justice decision on overcrowding
GB News
It’s also been revealed that some existing prisoners are due to be released early from the start of next week, in order to clear space.
The news comes a week after figures published by the Ministry of Justice showed that the national prison population was just 654 inmates away from reaching full capacity.
Drawing from personal experience, Widdecombe suggested a solution to the problem, saying: “The only thing you can do if you're running out of prison space is to create more space.”
“Now I had a a crisis when I was Prisons Minister. When the jails started to overflow, I brought in a prison ship from the United States which Labour then kept for nine years afterwards.”
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Boris Johnson (right) pledged to create more prison places in 2019PAPatrick expressed fears the decision could encourage opportunists to commit crimes in the hope they could avoid prison time.
“It certainly wouldn't be certain you would go to prison,” Widdecombe said. “You could take a gamble and you could assume that if you did commit a crime you wouldn't actually go to prison, or else your imprisonment would be delayed.”
“You might want to make that calculation, but the appalling thing is that overcrowded prisons are very, very dangerous places. And that's what we've got at the moment.”
The Ministry of Justice issued a statement in response to the news which read: “Our first priority is to keep the public safe from dangerous criminals. The criminal justice system has seen unprecedented growth in the prison population, with 6,000 more prisoners on remand than pre-pandemic.”
Royal Courts of JusticeGB News“The prison service has already put in place measures to help manage these pressures, and the government is carrying out the biggest prison building campaign since the Victorian era to build 20,000 new places, making sure we always have the places we need.”
Reacting to the Ministry of Justice’s statement, Widdecombe called the words “jam tomorrow”.
“We've seen the prison population rising. This isn't something sudden and unexpected. We've seen it, and yet nothing has been done except promises.”
“Yes, we'll have 20,000 more places at some point in the future. What use is that now?!”
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