Overcrowded prisons
With our prisons filled to near capacity the government are facing a crisis. On one night recently over 400 prisoners were being held in police cells.
Until new prisons can be built or the need for prison places declines, the problem is likely to continue.
There are many possible temporary solutions.
One might be to alter the law to remove the immediate link between sentence and the carrying out of the sentence. Offenders could be released temporarily and required to report to prison when a prison place is available. After all, this is how the National Health Service operates. Or perhaps prisoners could purchase a reduction in the number of days they are required to serve in prison and the cash raised in this way used to build new prisons. A new kind of I’m a celebrity let me out of here?