§ Mr. BeithTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons' statement to the Home Affairs Committee concerning the proportion of women prisoners and of young and adult prisoners who could be better dealt with through non-custodial sentences; and if he will make a statement. [50619]
§ Mr. MichaelWe are aware of no evidence to support the contention that 30 per cent. of prisoners should
self-evidently not be in prison".Evidence could only be obtained by detailed case by case analysis by experienced sentencers. Statistically, it would require over half of the offenders convicted of non-sexual or violent offences currently in prison to be given non-custodial sentences instead (including burglars, drug offenders and persistent offenders).
The Government are anxious to ensure that prison is used only when necessary and appropriate, so we are taking a range of measures to ensure that this is the case. In the Crime and Disorder Bill [Lords], we are introducing tough new community penalties for drug misusers and juvenile offenders, including the drug treatment and testing order, the action plan order and the reparation order. We are also keen to make greater use of modern technology and we have recently extended the areas where curfew orders can be enforced by electronic monitoring. Provisions in the Crime and Disorder Bill will also enable short-term prisoners to be released early on home detention curfew.
Similarly, the Crime (Sentences) Act 1997 contains provisions allowing courts to impose community service orders or curfew orders on fine defaulters and persistent petty offenders and to impose driving disqualifications for non-motoring offences and fine default. These provisions are being introduced initially through pilot schemes in Norfolk and Manchester which began in January. The Act also widens the power to impose attendance centre orders on fine defaulters to include 21–24 year olds.