The Government cannot magic up new prison places in a couple of weeks - Andy Brown

There aren’t many people who think it is a good idea for the courts to come to the conclusion that someone is so dangerous that they need to be locked up for a long time only for that person to get let out because we simply haven’t got enough prisons.

There also can’t be many of us who genuinely believe the government can magic up new prison places in a couple of weeks.

The public hates to hear politicians blaming the last lot for decisions they are making. Rightly so. The tired argument that it is all the fault of a different political party is rarely justified.

When it comes to prison places it really does seem fair to blame the crisis on what has gone before. Even if Labour had decided to start building a new prison the day they took office it would be a long way off completion.

The last government may have talked a lot about being tough on crime but they didn’t build enough prisons to hold offenders for the full length of their sentences.

That leaves Burnham’s government with some nightmarish choices. They risk not being able to find places for criminals newly sentenced. Which would cause legitimate public outcry. Or they risk letting serious offenders out early. Which has already caused legitimate public outcry over decisions about who are the least worst people to release. Or they try to fudge the facts by promising to do things that sound fine but can’t actually be delivered.

Like many politicians before them the temptation to fudge the facts has proved too great. Apparently the government thinks it is going to be possible to send more foreign nationals who are in our jails abroad. Good luck with that.

If we sent some prisoners back to their country of origin they would be immediately released and treated as a local hero. If we, for example, had one of Putin’s Salisbury poisoners in jail he would be very grateful to have them sent back. A jihadi enthusiast from Afghanistan held in a British prison is not a great target for repatriation.

Any country trying to send a violent criminal to another country is going to encounter problems. The receiving country might already have cancelled their nationality as the British government did with Shamima Begum.

Other countries can and do have views on whether they are happy to pay to house people who committed crimes in Britain. It isn’t possible to just fly them to an airport and dump them on the runway. It needs agreements that take months and years to achieve. Especially when we don’t particularly get on with the receiving government.

So let’s try and be a bit more realistic and rethink what happens at the end of a sentence for those prisoners who aren’t top of anyone’s list of horrible people and who might have a chance to adjust to life on the outside.

Pressure could be taken off hard prison places by moving more pre-release prisoners to facilities that have a strong focus on rehabilitation of those who will be back out on the streets in a relatively short time when their sentence ends.

It is easier and quicker to create more facilities for low security offenders than it is to create high security prison places. Few inmates would wish to mess up their route to a relatively imminent release with ill-judged escape attempts and so they could be housed in places that more resemble the outside world at much lower cost.

At the moment significant numbers of prisoners come out of jail with very little money in their pockets, very little to offer on the job market and little or no experience of how to cope with basics like paying the rent.

All too many simply go straight back into a life of crimes which cause massive distress to their victims.

We need a different approach to those criminals who are capable of being reformed. At the moment the training and preparation for outside life when in prison is weak and often ineffective. The probation service on the outside is over stretched, under-funded and under-appreciated.

A much stronger focus on rehabilitation is necessary not just for the benefit of the ex-con but more importantly for the potential victims of crime. It may annoy and frustrate the original victim to see the person who stole from them taking up a normal life at the end of their sentence. It frustrates the next set of victims a lot more if criminals come out of jail and immediately start harming a fresh set of people.

Clearly there are serious sex offenders and violent criminals who are highly unlikely to overcome their drive to commit offences easily and the public need keeping safe from them. It helps no one if the high security place that they should occupy is taken up by someone who is capable of being reformed.

Fortunately an emphasis on rehabilitation does have one high profile backer. Kemi Badenoch has just told us all how important it is for someone jailed for being a Jew hating Nazi to be rehabilitated and take up a key role as a party advisor.

Andy Brown is Green party councillor for Aire Valley.