I became Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice a week ago today. In that week, it has become clear that the last government left this country on the brink of disaster. Our prisons are on the point of collapse. There is no other way of putting it. What is worse, the previous government knew that this would happen.
The male prisoner state is now running at over 99% capacity. It has been around that level for 18 months. For that entire time, the last government courted catastrophe, Only ever doing enough to delay disaster by another day or week. Time and again, they ducked the difficult decisions that could have addressed this challenge. Instead, they kept the public in the dark about the state that they had left this country in.
They were too weak to heed the warning signs that were flashing. And they chose instead to put the country at risk. We now know from the former Lord Chancellor that he tried to address this challenge. He tried to warn the then prime minister. But instead of taking responsibility, Rishi Sunak called an election.
He tried to hoodwink the electorate and he was punished at the ballot box, rightly so.
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In a recent speech at HMP Five Wells in Northamptonshire, Lord Chancellor Shabana Mahmood said:
When prisons are full, violence rises – putting prison officers on the front line at risk. When no cells are available, suspects cannot be held in custody. This means vanloads of dangerous people circling the country, with nowhere to go.
The police would have to use their cells as a prison overflow, keeping officers off the streets. Soon, the courts would grind to a halt, unable to hold trials.
With officers unable to act, criminals could do whatever they want, without consequence. We could see looters running amok, smashing in windows, robbing shops and setting neighbourhoods alight.
In short, if we fail to act now, we face the collapse of the criminal justice system. And a total breakdown of law and order.
