The UK government has taken urgent action to address the prison capacity crisis, announcing early release for several thousand non-violent offenders.
For years, politicians of all stripes have used prisons and incarceration as a populist cause to gain votes. The result is an overstretched, overcrowded prison system that is bad for prisoners, prison staff and communities.
Around 20% of prisoners in England and Wales are held in prisons built during the Victorian era, where living conditions are objectively worse than in their newer counterparts. Restricted living spaces, poor in-cell sanitation, no in-cell technology, unreliable infrastructure, and fewer opportunities for work and education because of a lack of suitable spaces, are all bad enough when a prison is at normal capacity. But some 19th-century prisons are operating at over 150% capacity – the worst being HMP Durham at 169% and HMP Leeds at 172%.
