A rise in people awaiting trial or sentencing on the Isle of Wight has been blamed on a backlog of court cases brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.
Data released by the Ministry of Justice also shows that there were 262 fewer inmates at HMP Isle of Wight on March 2021 than in March 2020. A report by the MOJ has also found that the number of people held on remain reached a 10 year high.
The Howard League for Penal Reform – a charity that hopes to reduce prisoner numbers by campaigning for safer communities – claims the backlog has put extra stress on defendents and their families.
Frances Crook, chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said:
“It is vital that police and prosecutors use their discretion and make sensible decisions to ensure that people are not swept into the system unnecessarily.”
Nationally, the number of prisoners fell by 6% between March 2020 and March 2021, alongside lessening crime rates during the coronavirus lockdowns.
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said:
“Courts have been prioritising the most urgent cases throughout the pandemic, to protect the public and ensure offenders continue to face justice.
Article continues below this advertisement “Thanks to measures such as Nightingale courts and the rapid expansion of videos hearings, outstanding magistrates’ cases have fallen by 50,000 since last summer.”
And here I was thinking it was the really soft sentences handed out by inept judge’s..
This means that we have got dozens of scum roaming our streets who should be in prison. Scary
Seems most, even if most serious nature, keep getting handed out suspended sentences. Laws are just empty threats nowadays. And then wonder why so much violent crime on the streets today.
Should have remanded the slime ball in custody filthy dirty perv …..
Shouldn’t be allowed out in society
put him in prison till the day he Dies .
Even that is 2 good 4 slimeballs …..
Bobbit Central still here …….
When one of these scumbags makes a hand wringing do gooder, a politician or a judge a victim of a serious crime, then they will start to realise that their dumb, lenient sentences do not work.
You build more prisons and bang more people up and you ensure that the prisons get a reputation for being hell holes – which does act as a deterrent to some – the rest are filth and deserve to stay in hell holes until they die by one of three methods, – their own hand, the hand of someone else or natural causes.