That all the nicks are full, all the police cells are full and all the available court cells are full, people are being kept in them for two days at a time and it's taking up to ten o'clock at night to deliver the 'lucky' ones to the nicks when they find a spare corner.

So why??

I don't believe that suddenly the Police have got better at what they do and the courts are responding. There's also a report that says 8000 sex offenders have been merely cautioned in the last 5 years. I also don't believe that things are that much worse than a couple of years ago when there was plenty of room.

So what are we filling the prisons with?? What are we locking these people up for?? Anybody got any idea??

We've been steadily increasing our use of imprisonment over the last 20 years or so. We're currently at about capacity at just over 80,000. I remember when as a student (a little over 10 years ago) a prison population of 45,000 was regarded as a scandal and a crisis.

The last couple of years has also seen the implementation of a new indeterminate sentence for dangerous offenders. When implemented, government didn't think it would be that popular, but it has been! It's effect is simple. For most sentences, the judge simply gives a sentence, and that's what you'll serve (with the usual period of being released on license). The new sentence is indeterminate. You serve a tariff that represents the harm caused by your offence and only then are you eligible for release. However, they don't just kick you out; you have to convince the parole board that you're a manageable risk. The courts have really gone for this sentence and there are loads in our prisons that would have been released by now under the old determinate sentences. Additionally, because our prisons are at capacity, it's more difficult to finish educational programmes, and therefore more difficult to convince a parole board that you are a manageable risk, and it's therefore more difficult to get out, thereby contributing to the over crowding! Parole boards are also now over worked and there are therefore delays in hearing applications for release.

In short, it's all the fault of the gutter press!

So in effect, it's easy to get in and impossible to get out??

I read somewhere that some forces, including Hartlepool, are trying pilot schemes in selected areas, where they're putting bobbies back on the beat to see if this has any effect on crime. The police seem to have been amazed to find that crime is reduced in those areas, as a result.

I suppose there'll now be an official enquiry to discover the reasons for this totally unpredictable outcome

Who?

You mean, the scheme couldn't possibly have worked if they were real coppers? I suppose you have a point.

No no no, silly scribe. It's easy to get in but impossible to get out. Remember when you used to see dogs stuck together??

Actually I DID see two dogs stuck together up De Tien way last October. Middle of the road as usual but I didn't have the camera handy.

And of course forensics is better than ever so it necessarily follows that more people will be caught,
build more prisons, at least you can smoke in there

what happened to the dogs Kev? I presume their running away was somewhat impeded by being conjoined. Unless of course they were the canine champs in their equivalent of a three-legged race.

oh yeah, back to my original point. I think folks are now of the mind that if the jails get TOO full, they'll be able to do naughty things and subsequently only be placed under house arrest with one of those tags attatched to monitor their whereabouts.
Unless of course they build more jails, which will require more money from speeding fines and petrol price hikes.

Yes, there is always a surge when the wolves fail to get up (again) it will die down in August when the inbreds decide that they are destined to win the league (again).

They are ALL knobheads without exception.
ALL MUST be put to the sword.

To summarise.... having bowed to the "lock them up and throw the key away" lobby, they've now found that they need a lot more keys that they don't really have the political will to provide?

"Dear Sir, having filled our prisons we have now decided to build a new one at the bottom of your road. Hope that's ok."

"Public Enquiry! NIMBY! Why don't we just hang the lot of em, we never had this problem when we had National Service...."

Take all the druggies, paedo's, muggers, twockers & burglers and stick em in uniorm and ship em to Iraq. But not murderers cos' they might hurt someone.

Prison population looks to have increased in inverse proportion to the capacity of Victoria Park.

Thats a profound observation