UK Parliament / Open data

Prisons and Probation

Proceeding contribution from Richard Burgon (Labour) in the House of Commons on Tuesday, 14 May 2019. It occurred during Opposition day on Prisons and Probation.

I tend to agree with my hon. Friend on that point, as on virtually everything else.

There is so much wrong with our prisons and with our wider justice system. It is overcrowded and too reliant on ineffective short prison sentences. It is also too punitive, and insufficiently focused on turning lives around. Slashing hundreds of millions of pounds from prison budgets and axing thousands of staff members have also been key drivers in what we must now call this justice emergency. Across the board, the scale of justice cuts is eye-watering, totalling 40% under the Conservatives. These cuts often go hand in hand with privatisation and, as budgets fall, there is a greater push for the private sector to step in.

Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
660 c100 
Session
2017-19
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
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