Sex offenders could face chemical castration and thousands more criminals will serve sentences in the community under plans to end overcrowding in jails.
Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood confirmed on Thursday that a national rollout covering 20 prisons will pilot the use of chemical castration of sex offenders.
She said the Government is exploring whether it will be on a mandatory basis.
Chemical castration is currently being trialled at a prison in south-west England.
An independent sentencing review led by former justice secretary David Gauke recommended major reforms to overhaul the prisons system and make sure there is space to jail the most dangerous offenders after a string of emergency measures to deal with the capacity crisis.
The key proposal would see offenders who behave well in jail only serve a third of their term in custody, before being released.
Judges could also be given more flexibility to impose punishments such as football or driving bans.
Short sentences of less than 12 months would also be scrapped, apart from exceptional circumstances such as domestic abuse cases.
Five key proposals put forward by Mr Gauke are expected to cut the prison population by around 9,800.
Speaking about the review on Thursday morning, Mr Gauke said exploring chemical castration for sex offenders is “worthwhile” as a way to reduce reoffending.
Chemical suppression has been used in Germany and Denmark on a voluntary basis, and in Poland as mandatory for some offenders.
“One of our recommendations is that we think that we should continue to explore this, this is drugs that reduces sexual desire,” Mr Gauke told Sky News.
“It’s not appropriate for every sexual offender, and the evidence base for this does need to be built up.”
He added: “I’m not going to claim it’s the answer for everything. This is about reducing the risk of reoffending in future.
“There are some sex offenders who want to reduce their desires. And if we can explore this, I think that is something that’s worthwhile.”
Problematic sexual arousal can be reduced by chemical suppressants and prescribed medication, but the review highlighted the treatment would not be relevant for some sex offenders such as rapists driven by power and control, rather than sexual preoccupation.
Asked if this would be used instead of keeping sex offenders in prison, Mr Gauke said: “The point being is at some point almost every prisoner will be released. We have to look across the system at doing everything we can do to minimise the risk of reoffending. You cannot remove that risk altogether.”
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, just before the Government began freeing thousands of prisoners early to ease overcrowding.
The review chairman said: “The scale of the crisis we are in cannot be understated.
“Overcrowded prisons are leading to dangerous conditions for staff and contributing to high levels of reoffending.
“These recommendations, which span the entirety of the justice system, are focused not only on bringing the prison population under control but ultimately reducing reoffending and ensuring victims are protected.”
The review published on Thursday recommended introducing an “earned progression model” inspired by reforms in Texas.
Under the scheme, prisoners could be released earlier for good behaviour and be supervised on licence for a period of their sentence.
They would then remain unsupervised in the community for the final period of their sentence, but could be recalled to prison if they commit another crime.
Violent or sexual offenders who are serving sentences of four years or more could be released into the community on licence after spending half of their sentence behind bars, or longer if they do not comply with prison rules.
The review also suggested for the most dangerous offenders on extended sentences to be eligible for parole at half-way through their sentence, instead of two-thirds, if they earn credits to take part in rehabilitation activities in prison.
They would only be released if the Parole Board decided it was safe to do so.
The Government is expected to accept the review’s key measures, but reject earlier release for the most dangerous cohort.
Ministers launched the review to consider options to hand criminals tougher punishments outside prison in October last year as part of efforts to ease overcrowding.
The Justice Secretary is expected to respond to the review in Parliament on Thursday, and announce a funding boost of up to £700 million a year for probation by the final year of the spending review.
Mr Gauke’s recommendations recognise that moving more criminals into the community would increase pressures on the Probation Service, which is already grappling with high workloads.
But the review called for higher investment in the service and more use of voluntary organisations and technology to help process admin while probation officers spend more time with offenders for their rehabilitation.
It also urged for extra funding as tens of thousands more offenders are expected to be electronically tagged in the community.
Mr Gauke said: “If the Government doesn’t put the resources into probation that is necessary, then the risk here is that we won’t make progress on rehabilitation that we need, and there will be a public backlash against it.”
Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick warned that scrapping short sentences would be effectively “decriminalising” offences like burglary, theft and assault.
“This is a gift to criminals who will be free to offend with impunity,” he said.
“If Starmer proceeds with halving sentences for dangerous offenders like killers, rapists and paedophiles that would be a slap in the face for victims.”
The victims’ commissioner for England and Wales also raised concerns that the Probation Service may not be able to cope with rising demand.
Baroness Newlove said: “I understand their necessity - but I do have concerns.
“The pace of change feels urgent, as if we are racing against the clock.
“My overriding concern is whether the already stretched Probation Service can withstand this additional pressure.
“The additional funding is welcome and will allow more staff to be recruited, but many long-serving staff have left the service in recent years. You cannot buy experience.”
