By Ryan Kisiel
Last updated at 11:14 AM on 25th January 2010
Comments (70)
If the courts hand down shorter jail sentences, the Government could avoid having to build at least 1,000 extra prison places
Ministers want courts to give criminals shorter sentences as a way to avoid building extra prison places, a leaked document revealed last night.
A leaked Ministry of Justice document suggested that the new Sentencing Council could halt the 'upward sentencing drift' which has seen courts impose longer prison terms.
The body - which from April will advise judges on what punishments to give offenders - replaces two other public organisations which previously performed that role.
The document states that if the courts pay a closer adherence to the Council's advice, then the Government could avoid the need to build an extra 1,000 prison places.
The new legislation for the Council means that courts 'must follow the guidelines', where previously they only had to 'have regard' to the Sentencing Guidelines Council and Sentencing Advisory Panel recommendations.
The 'impact assessment' for the new Council, written by the Ministry of Justice, said: 'Closer adherence to sentencing ranges could arrest historical trends in upward sentencing drift.
'Arresting sentencing drift could potentially mean avoiding the need to build some 1,000 additional prison places.'
But critics last night claimed that the new Council's guidelines - leaked to the Daily Telegraph - would lead to the Government needing 8,000 fewer prison places.
Shadow justice secretary Dominic Grieve said that it was important that sentences were not 'driven by the Government's failure to provide enough prison places'.
Although the Government has pledged to provide an extra 10,000 prison places by 2014, the Commons justice select committee has suggested that the number of inmates be cut by a third, with courts using jail as a last resort.
Prisons minister Maria Eagle said: 'It is entirely untrue to suggest the Sentencing Council is a back-door way of reducing prison population.
