Former justice secretary urges UK to make more use of open prisons
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The UK does not “make as much use of open prisons” as it could, a former Conservative justice minister has suggested. David Gauke, who is leading the Government’s sentencing review, also told the Times that “we have run out of space” in prisons and there is “an opportunity” for things to change.
Speaking to the newspaper following visits to three prisons in Spain where reforms have included greater use of open prisons, Mr Gauke, said: “We don’t make as much use of open prisons as we might do. “You might spend part of your day out of a prison working, and then return to sleep at night — if that gets you into the rhythm of working and the disciplines of working then that is helpful.”.
Mr Gauke, who served as justice secretary between January 2018 and July 2019 under Theresa May was appointed earlier this year to lead a Government sentencing review, which aims to explore tougher punishments outside of prison while also making sure there is space to incarcerate the most dangerous offenders.
Mr Gauke told the newspaper: “There is clearly an opportunity here. “We’re at the beginning of a parliamentary term with the Government with a large majority. “We have run out of space. “I think there is an increasing recognition that we have gone down the route of increasing sentences to an extent that it’s doing nothing to reduce crime but it is causing significant costs.
