Member News
Judges should be able to specify minimum and maximum hail terms when sentencing offenders, the Commons has heard.
Elfyn Llwyd (Plaid, Dwyfor Meirionnydd) on Wednesday called for changes to the way prisoners serving indeterminate sentences of imprisonment for public protection (IPP) were assessed for release.
Plaid Cymru's Westminster leader argued that taxpayers' money was being wasted locking up offenders who could be rehabilitated.
Introducing his Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill under the ten-minute rule motion, he said: "There are currently too many anomalies in sentencing. People are given sentences that are not always appropriate to the crime they have committed, and sentences do not subsequently have regard to the progress that people make during their time in prison."
He said the Bill would introduce new clauses to the Criminal Justice Act 2003 that would address some of those anomalies, ensuring that courts have greater freedom to impose the sentence "they deem necessary".
And this would give prisoners an incentive to take part in rehabilitation programmes.
Llywd told MPs that early release from IPP and fixed sentences should be "incentive based" rather than automatic.
Arguing that his measures would save money, he said: "On a daily basis 5,659 people are serving an IPP sentence of which 2,229 are beyond their tariff."
He told MPs the average time served beyond the tariff costs £30,000, a total of £68m
Putting a prisoner through a rehabilitation programme would be £5,000 which would be a total cost of £11m for the 2,229 prisoners affected.
For prisoners serving a fixed sentence the parole board would have to be satisfied the individual was at "low risk" to the public before release, rather than automatically releasing a criminal when half the sentence had been served.
Llwyd said that under his sentencing proposal, the court would set a maximum term of imprisonment and a minimum term which must be between one-third and half of the maximum.
He added: "These new clauses would make vital revisions to sentencing, would grant greater autonomy to the courts to review the circumstances of each case and reward progress made in prison."
The Bill will be read a second time on Friday May 15 but stands little chance of making progress due to a lack of parliamentary time.
Have your say...
Please enter your comments below.