Boris Johnson has said he will create 10,000 more prison places spending £2.5bn to build new prisons.
Johnson wrote in the Mail on Sunday, “We need to come down hard on crime. That means coming down hard on criminals.
“I want the criminals to be afraid, not the public.”
According to the Telegraph, the prime minister wants to end the automatic release of prisoners that have served half of their sentence.
The newspaper said the prime minister is to meet on Monday at Downing Street with former judges, prison chiefs, police chief and prosecutors.
He said there is an impression of a growing “culture of insolence” with “thugs” that believe they can act with impunity, and wants to tackle the rising knife crime.
Over the course of this week Johnson wants to unveil new sentencing plans in a bid to tackle rising violent crime across the UK.
The £2.5bn has already been approved by the Treasury and said the investment into the prison service is “long overdue.”
Johnson said writing in the Mail on Sunday, “We have the impression of a growing culture of insolence on the part of the thugs; and in the face of that sense of impunity, entirely misplaced.
“I believe the British public knows instinctively what we must do.
“We need to come down hard on crime. That means coming down hard on criminals.
“We need to reverse the balance of fear. I want the criminals to be afraid, not the public.”
The investment into the prison service has been approved by Sajid Javid the chancellor, and Johnson said it is “vital they [prisoners] get the sentence they deserve.”
He continued, “In the past five years, we have seen literally hundreds of convicted rapists who have come out of prison commit another sexual offence.
“This cannot go on. I am afraid that as a society we have no choice but to insist on tougher sentencing laws for serious sexual and violent offenders, and for those who carry knives.
“Our first duty is to protect the public in the most basic way, and that means taking such people off the streets.”
However, Wera Hobhouse, the Lib Dem justice spokeswoman said the UK has the largest prison population of any country in Western Europe.
She said, “For years, Labour and Tory ministers have made sentences longer and longer, without any evidence that they prevent crime.
“It may sound tough, but it hasn’t made our communities any safer. All it does is overcrowd our prisons and waste millions of pounds.
“We do need a sentencing review, but its aim should be to reverse decades of pointless sentence inflation. Instead of just talking tough, it’s time ministers look at the evidence.”
Leave a Comment