Tories attack Ken Clarke’s plans to jail fewer criminals

Reform: Ken Clarke said it was wrong to keep pusing prisoners into jail
12 April 2012

Ken Clarke was today facing a Tory rebellion as he vowed to end "American-style" sentencing policies that have sent the prison population to record levels.

The Justice Secretary said he believed that it was wrong to keep "piling up" more prisoners as he announced plans that he hopes will cut the 85,000 inmate population by 3,000.

His proposals include improving the rehabilitation of offenders through better drugs and mental health treatment, tougher community sentences and measures to help convicts find jobs and housing after their release.

A Tory manifesto pledge that knife offenders should expect to be jailed is being dropped and judges will be given more freedom to determine punishments. Mr Clarke said the plans, in a Green Paper published today, would help to cut crime by reducing reoffending.

But former home secretary Lord Howard said he believed that an almost 50 per cent drop in crime since 1993 was linked to the "very significant increase" in the prison population over the same period. He rejected Mr Clarke's assertion that the two were not connected.

Tory MP Philip Davies said he would vote against the knife crime U-turn and warned that other backbenchers would do the same.

Harry Fletcher, the National Association of Probation Officers' assistant general secretary, said the Green Paper was motivated by an ideological wish to cut costs and would lead to more reoffending.

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