In response to the proposals – first reported by the Day by day Telegraph , exterior– a Ministry of Justice spokesperson instructed the BBC: “The brand new authorities inherited prisons on the purpose of collapse, which is why the Lord Chancellor took swift motion by introducing emergency measures.
“We are going to proceed to think about different long-term choices to take care of the prisons disaster in a sustainable method.”
Mr Franklin stated conversations contemplating this transfer are frequent between magistrates and authorities officers.
He instructed BBC Radio 4’s As we speak programme, that magistrates have already been skilled to take care of “barely extra critical circumstances”, so if the proposals had been permitted, “the least critical circumstances at the moment being handled by the Crown Courts, might be handled because the [magistrate courts] most critical circumstances”.
In addition to coping with the “log jam” within the crown courts, he stated it could imply that “justice is sped up and that’s good for victims, witnesses and defenders”.
However he warned it could have to work along with extra court docket sources, together with court docket workers reminiscent of “authorized advisers and probation officers”, the dearth of whom may create “delays and cancellations which can be very irritating”.
Chairwoman of the Prison Bar Affiliation, Mary Prior KC, stated if permitted, the adjustments would “make issues worse” by rising the stress on prisons that are already close to capability.
“It is a knee-jerk response, finished with out consulting – as soon as once more – the prison barristers or solicitors who deal daily with these circumstances,” she stated, including a “collaborative and smart method” is required.
The proposal has already been tried earlier than, she stated, however was “eliminated in a short time”, when the then Justice Secretary Dominic Raab doubled the jail sentences magistrates may give in 2022. The scheme was dropped after a yr.
This comes after greater than 2,000 prisoners had been launched early final week to take care of jail overcrowding.
Offenders who had served 40% of their sentence had been eligible, who would in any other case have been launched after serving half their sentence.
Prisoners who had been in jail for critical violent offences with sentences of 4 years or extra, in addition to intercourse offenders, weren’t launched.
One former inmate appeared again in court docket after allegedly sexually assaulting a girl on the day of his early launch.
