Courts and jails must be more open with victims about when prisoners will be set free, MPs have been told, ahead of a radical overhaul of criminal court sentencing.
The Labour government is reforming the justice system to fix the prison overcrowding crisis, with plans for some offenders to spend a third of their sentences behind bars.
David Gauke, the former Conservative Justice Secretary, recommended a package of changes after an independent review of sentences handed down in the criminal courts.
Under the plans, inmates can earn their early release with good behaviour and engagement in rehabilitation and education. They will then spend the rest of their sentence in the community, with some supervision from probation services.
Giving evidence to MPs, Mr Gauke said the government and the justice system must increase transparency so that victims understand when offenders will be set free again.
“One of the messages that came across strongly to us in the course of the review is that communication with victims, particularly around sentence length, is not all it might be”, he told the Commons Justice Select Committee.
“We need to do much more to be transparent with that.”
He said the review had found a “reluctance to set out ‘this is the earliest date at which someone can be released’.
“I think we need to be fair to victims about that. I think we can be clearer.
“We strongly recommended more transparency about sentencing length so victims have got a better idea when an offender could be back in the community.”
At present, judges usually announce at sentencing hearings when an offender will be eligible for release. But the focus is on the total jail sentence, and the actual release date is often unclear due to complex rules and time already serve on remand having to be taken into consideration.
The reforms will also include greater use of suspended prison terms and deferred sentences, which enable offenders to demonstrate to judges that they are serious about rehabilitating and can be trusted to do that in the community.
Mr Gauke said he has recommended a reduction in the use of short prison terms, and he expects one of the results of his reforms to be less pregnant women and new mothers being incarcerated.
His review comes as the Labour government looks for solutions to chronically over-subscribed prison cells.
Mr Gauke said his reforms are expected to cut the prison population by around 9,800.
Latest figures show the prison population in England and Wales is 88,103, just 418 below the record of 88,521, which was reached on September 6 last year.
Both Labour and Conservative administrations have been forced to set free thousands of prisoners early to ease overcrowding.
The Gauke early release plan would see some prisoners supervised on licence after being set free, and then being left unsupervised for the final part of their sentence.
The changes would mean violent and sexual offenders serving sentences of four years or more being possibly released at the halfway stage of their sentences.
Mr Gauke served as Justice Secretary under Prime Minster Theresa May in 2018 and 2019. He was stripped of the Tory whip after rebelling against Boris Johnson, and then he lost his seat when standing as an Independent.
