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- Sep 20, 2018
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Since 2010, successive governments have pursued a policy of "austerity" -- cuts in public spending -- which has meant, since governments have tried, to a greater or lesser extent, to protect spending on electorally sensitive areas, particularly the Health Service, welfare and education, other services have had to cope with huge cuts in real-terms funding. The problem has been particularly acute for the prison service, which has to cope with an ever-increasing prison population, caused primarily by government's desire to appear tough on crime by legislating to increase the guideline sentences for particular offences, combined with an aging prison estate, with many prisons dating from Victorian times.In somewhat recent years, the UK seems more and more to have a miniature version of many of the bad qualities of the US.
I suspect they're floating this idea not because it's seriously being considered --there is, after all, no reason to expect that prison officers anywhere in Europe other than the Republic of Ireland would be fluent in English, it would make education and training while in prison very difficult for similar reasons, and it would make it very difficult for family members to visit inmates -- but in order to prepare public opinion for the most likely, though politically unpalatable, remedy of an early release scheme for more minor offenders.