Posted on: 5 September, 2025

In August, the government published Part 3 of the Independent Review of Prison Capacity which aimed to: consider why prison supply and demand did not meet, the choices and governance structures, and the impact on other parts of the criminal justice system, as well as what can be learned from past prison capacity crises. The review was chaired by Dame Anne Owers. 

Issues identified within the report include the high numbers of people on remand, recall or serving short sentences. A fifth of the prison population are on remand, as a result of court backlogs, recalls have doubled in a 9-year period and now make up 24% of the prison population. This means that nearly half (44%) of the prison population is made up solely of people on remand or recall. 

The report also shows how nearly half of all admissions are sentences of under 12 months, whilst research shows over half of this group will reoffend again within a year – perpetuating the costly and ineffective “revolving door” that these sentences breed. In our 2024 Cranstoun Manifesto, we recommended that the government scrap these sentences and there are indications that the government might act on this. 

Government targets for new prison places set by the last government are behind schedule and over-budget, with subsequent new prisons announced by the current government. The projected cost for the 20,000 new prison places announced in 2021 has nearly doubled from £5.2 billion to £9.4–10.1 billion. 

Additionally, there is significant strain on probation services with some areas reporting vacancy rates of 55%, with the lack of staff hindering their ability to work effectively in rehabilitating and resettling people at the end of their sentence. 

Dame Owers’ report also highlights the importance of resettlement services covering housing, mental health, employment and ID access to reduce reoffending and ease systemic pressure.  

Lastly, the report recommends a long-term, preventative strategy to solve issues and inform better practice, highlighting the need for a “sustained, system-wide approach”. 

Cranstoun believes that prisons are a necessary tool to keep communities safe and ensure fair justice is served. However, the disproportionate use of short-term sentences (which have shockingly high reoffending rates) as well as high numbers of people on recall and remand are causing unnecessary problems which are harming our ability to control our prisons adequately and safely.  

Those on remand – which is up 87% in just five years – will be waiting for an outcome for up to several months with some individuals waiting two to three years. It is also worth adding the economic cost to the public for putting people in prisons is over a third higher (36%) than the median wage (£53,801 >£37,343) in the UK. 

In England & Wales, 16% of the prison population are serving sentences for drug offences, but this figure rises to 38% when looking at crime associated with the person’s drug use. Furthermore, nearly half of the prison population (49%) are identified as having a ‘drug problem’. This highlights the enormous link between substance use and prison, and that dependency is the root cause to address to cut crime. 

Cranstoun, in line with some recommendations of the report, believes that there needs to be a transformative approach to how we manage the criminal justice system, encompassing a whole system approach with an opportunity for diversion, education and a treatment intervention wherever possible and necessary. 

Our whole system approach aims to address root causes upstream through our drug educational work and prearrest diversion schemes, through to our Cranstoun Arrest Referral Service (CARS), helping people who are held in custody get referrals for substance dependencies.  

This continues through Out of Court Resolutions, Alcohol Treatment Requirements and Drug Rehabilitation Requirements. We also deliver psychosocial interventions in HMP Birmingham and firmly believe that continuity of care must go further by providing additional support for people leaving prisons – this will help reduce the revolving door to the benefit of the individual and wider society. 

Lastly, we strongly welcome Dame Owers’ recommendation that the “third sector should be involved in discussing the design, as well as the delivery, of community services. This should include the engagement and resourcing of essential non-criminal justice support such as addiction, health, housing, and employment services.” We will be writing to the relevant officials to express interest in this and hope that we can contribute. 

In summary, the report thoroughly unpacks the many issues related to our prison capacity and provides salient solutions in what can be done to address the problems.

As such, Cranstoun recommends the following: 

• Abolishing short term prison sentences for non-violent offences 

• Implementing measures like DAT which reduce drug-related theft and behavioural crime 

• Better continuity of care for prison leavers, ensuring treatment options like buvidal are available to the area that the person is being released to  

• More use of Out of Court Resolutions, diversionary measures and upstream education to prevent crime 

• Better treatment, rehabilitation, holistic support, supported housing and out of prison care to cut reoffending and help rebuild lives 

• A whole system approach that aims to cut reoffending whilst rehabilitating people who are caught in the “revolving door”