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Gales of laughter as the Tories are full of wind

By John Hirst

Gales of laughter as the Tories are full of wind

I am rather puzzled why the Telegraph is reporting that The Conservative party have promised to end Labour's policy of allowing criminals to automatically walk out of jail early. Given that it appears to be a rehash of the article in the post below with just a different headline. And of course it refers to what Nick Herbert will say at the Prison Governors Association conference, when according to the previous article he has already said it.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of Labour's sentencing policy, it is worth bearing in mind that even with some prisoners getting out at the halfway stage of their sentence there is still large scale overcrowding. Therefore, all the Tories are offering is to increase overcrowding even further. Not a well thought out policy at all.

As this statement goes to show, "Under our sentencing reforms, governors will decide on a prisoner's suitability for release, subject to appropriate judicial involvement". The Tories cannot have it both ways. Either the Executive decides upon the release of prisoners, or the Judiciary decides. The reason why it is presently the Judiciary which decides is because the courts have decided that the Executive does not show the required level of independence needed for fairness in decision making.

Once a prisoner has been released, whilst the Executive may institute recall procedures the final decision rests with the Judiciary under the Separation of Powers doctrine. This is a necessary element to provide the balance and checks against abuse of power.

So, whilst the Tories may huff and puff mere wind will not blow Labour's house down when it comes to sentencing policy. They would be better off saving it all for the balloons for the Tory Party Xmas bash.

Full post as published by prisonlawinsideout on October 08, 2008 (boomark / email).