Magistrates given power to jail criminals for longer under government plans

Ministers hope allowing magistrates’ courts to try more serious offences, with longer sentences, could help ease prison overcrowding

Magistrates are set to be given powers to jail criminals for longer under plans being considered by the Government to tackle the prison overcrowding crisis.
Ministers are considering legal changes that would allow magistrates to jail offenders for up to a year, in an effort to cut the record backlog of remand prisoners – those who are in jail waiting to be tried and who have not been convicted or sentenced.
The move would double the jail terms that magistrates can impose, from a current maximum of six months. 
This would enable them to try more serious offences than currently, including theft, fraud, assault, drug dealing and weapons possession.
One source said the change would create a “bow wave” of new convicts to be jailed – but ministers believe the jail spaces freed up by the Government’s early release scheme, launched last week, could be used to accommodate this surge.
Ultimately, they believe the move could slash the remand prisoner population and open up more cells in jails because many remand prisoners would be freed after trial.
A record 17,070 prisoners were on remand at the end of June, representing a fifth of the entire prison population, up from just 6,000 five years ago, Ministry of Justice (MoJ) figures show. 
Of these, nearly a third would normally be found not guilty or, if they were convicted, would not be jailed.
Others have spent so long on remand that, if convicted, they could be released immediately or within months as the time already served in prison counts towards their sentence.
More than 4,500 of those on remand have been in jail for more than six months, including 770 for more than two years.
Government sources confirmed the new jailing powers were “on the table” for consideration. 
They have previously been temporarily introduced – by Dominic Raab as justice secretary in January 2022 to clear court backlogs – but dropped a year later when they started to put pressure on prisons.
“Any change would create a bow wave of extra offenders being sent to jail but the impact down the road would be beneficial in reducing the numbers in jail,” said a Government source.
A justice source said: “It’s a smart thing to do but it is a gamble. All the modelling suggests it will lead to a surge in the prison population but the number of remand prisoners is one of the principal reasons for overcrowding.”
The Government’s early release scheme saw some 1,750 prisoners freed 40 per cent of the way through their sentences rather than half way. Up to 1,700 more are expected to be freed on October 22.
Those eligible are prisoners on “determinate” sentences for thefts, drug dealing, fraud and violent crimes up to four years.
 But those convicted of sex crimes, terrorism, specific domestic abuse offences or violence over four years are excluded. It is estimated the early release scheme could free up 5,500 spaces in cells.
The magistrates’ new jailing powers would only apply to offences of the sort which can be dealt with either by magistrates or in crown courts. 
They would not apply to indictable offences such as murder, manslaughter or rape – which must go to crown courts – or summary offences, largely motoring, which are reserved only for magistrates.
Defendants would still be able to opt to have any “either-way” case heard by a jury if they wished. But when the system was temporarily introduced in 2022, many defendants opted to be tried by magistrates in order to get a quicker hearing and not spend months or years on remand. 
Tom Franklin, chief executive of the Magistrates’ Association, said it would be a sensible move: “Magistrates have previously been trained to deal with the additional cases that such a change would bring to magistrates’ courts, and it would help to free up capacity in crown courts to deal with even more serious cases.”
However, he warned there would need to be extra resources because of “bottlenecks” in magistrates’ courts due to shortages of legal advisers and probation officers which led to delays and cancellations.
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “The new Government inherited prisons on the point of collapse, which is why the Lord Chancellor took swift action by introducing emergency measures. 
“We will continue to consider other long-term options to deal with the prisons crisis in a sustainable way.”
However, Mary Prior, chair of the criminal bar association, said it was a “knee-jerk reaction” which would “make things worse” by increasing pressure on reduced prison space. 
“The Government must stop simply tinkering around the edges of a system in the midst of collapse,” she said.