The recent riots that rocked the United Kingdom have thrown into sharp relief that the wheels of justice can turn quickly, with rioters being charged and jailed mere days after the disorder. It also highlighted the crisis of capacity facing Britain’s prison estate. Society Matters wanted to take some time this month to highlight the government’s response (Operation ‘Early Dawn’) and more widely examine the prison system in the context of social welfare. What happens to a person’s benefit entitlement in prison, and what impact might this have on the families a prisoner leaves behind?
To give some context firstly, the average prison sentence length across England and Wales currently stands at 20.9 months, having stood at 11.4 months in 2000. Across England and Wales, there is a capacity of around 88,000 places, with around 1500 places still usable, meaning that the prison is currently very close to being at ‘full’ capacity. In short, people are spending longer amounts of time in prison, with less space available for them.
In response to this, the government recently triggered ‘Operation Early Dawn’ to mitigate the risk of prison overcrowding. This means that offenders will be summoned to court only when it is confirmed that a cell is available for them, should they be remanded in custody. They will be held in police cells until this time. There is a possibility that court dates are delayed or adjourned at very short notice as a result of triggering Operation Early Dawn.
In the interest of balance, it should be noted that Operation Early Dawn has been activated before by the previous Conservative government in May of this year to help tackle prison overcrowding. The Labour government has repeatedly said it has to do this to ensure the prison system can continue to function, as a result of the crisis it purports to have inherited from the Conservatives.
Separately the Justice Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, announced that some prisoners will now be eligible for release after serving 40% of their sentence, rather than 50% which its hoped will free up around 5500 prison places between September and October. It should be noted that those who took part in the recent rioting, those guilty of sexual offences, domestic violence and terrorism offences (among other prisoner groups who committed specific offences) will not benefit from the early release scheme.
Whilst freeing up prison spaces may offer temporary relief, without a long term plan to address the issue of prison capacity, its difficult to see how this doesn’t become a regular feature of our prison system.
Society Matters is a key proponent of what we call ‘the people behind the process.’ We know that people aren’t statistics and that every person navigating the welfare system isn’t a number but a person with their own lives and families. What happens then to the people caught up in the prison system in respect of their social welfare entitlement, not just for themselves but their families on the outside too?
If you’re at all familiar with the welfare state, you wont be surprised to hear that it can be a complex area to navigate. For example, Universal Credit is suspended whilst you’re in prison, bar the Housing Element which can continue for 6 months and if your UC claim is a joint claim then it can be downgraded to the ‘single person’ rate meaning a reduction for your family on the ‘outside.’ Meanwhile, National Insurance contributions will stop which can effect your pension entitlement years down the line and some disability benefits can continue for a few weeks whilst other benefits are suspended altogether. In short, it’s a complicated area.
We know that navigating the social security landscape is a challenge. With that in mind, drawing on the years of experience that Society Matters and our parent charity Citizens Advice Gateshead has built, Society Matters runs a full-day CPD accredited course on ‘Prisoners and Welfare Benefits’ if you’d like to find out more about this topical issue. More information can be found here.