OUR criminal justice system is failing. England and Wales has one of the highest per capita rates of imprisonment in Western Europe and the majority of prisoners are re-convicted within two years of release from custody.

Whitehall has demonstrated it is incapable of developing innovative solutions to address these failings. To stop the rot we need a radical shift of decision-making control and funding down to a local level.

From prisons and probation services to neighbourhood policing and drug treatment centres – in a raft of policy areas local people and politicians are best-placed to take the lead.

This does not require additional money but does require expertise that only local people can bring.

An astonishing 35 per cent of prison capacity is made up of prisoners on remand, prisoners sentenced to 12 months or less and prisoners less than 18 years of age.

Monday’s report into the criminal justice system published by the All Party Parliamentary Local Government Group argues that some of the money being spent on these ineffective prison places would be better put into a local ‘safety and justice’ budget to fund, amongst other things, local prisons and neighbourhood policing.

As our prison system lurches from crisis to crisis we need to forge a new consensus around the transfer of funding and powers to local politicians.


JEN PUFKY, senior account executive, Insight Public Affairs, Eccleston Place, London