Magistrates told to delay locking up criminals until at least September to ease jail overcrowding

Magistrates have been ordered to delay jailing some criminals in a bid to ease prison overcrowding , as the number of people behind bars hit a new weekly high.

Court chiefs have been told that offenders who are on bail but likely to be jailed should have their sentencing postponed until September, when government plans to free thousands of offenders early come into force.

The direction, from Court of Appeal judge Lord Justice Green, who is the deputy senior presiding judge for England and Wales, comes just days after emergency measures were reactivated in the north of England allowing defendants to be held in police cells and not summoned to magistrates’ court until a space in prison is available.

The body representing magistrates branded the move “another sticking plaster to hold our crumbling justice system together”, while solicitors called for an “urgent injection of funding” to tackle the crisis.

But the prison officers’ union said it could see “no reason why justice should be delayed”.

As of Friday, the prison population in England and Wales stood at 88,234 – the highest end-of-week number since weekly data was first published in 2011, according to analysis of Ministry of Justice (MoJ) figures by the PA news agency.

The previous weekly high, reached on 13 October last year, was 88,225.

The latest figure is higher than the peak reached in the aftermath of the 2011 summer riots – 88,179 recorded on 2 December that year.

The highest number of prisoners in England and Wales ever recorded is 88,336, reached at the end of February this year.

There is considerable concern among justice figures about what could happen over the coming weeks before prisoners are freed early.

Last month, justice secretary Shabana Mahmood announced plans to cut the proportion of the sentence inmates must serve from 50 per cent to 40 per cent, as the MoJ said violence and self-harm in prisons had risen to unacceptable levels and overcrowding had pushed jails to the “point of collapse”.

The temporary move – which does not apply to those convicted of sex offences, terrorism, domestic abuse or some violent offences – is expected to result in 5,500 offenders being released over the next two months.

Issuing his order to magistrates with immediate effect, Lord Justice Green said: “Courts are responsible for the proper administration of justice. It is therefore appropriate that the judiciary have regard to the wider functioning of the criminal justice system.”

Telling court chiefs to review all cases listed for sentence up to and including 6 September where the defendant is on bail, he added: “Where it is assessed that a custodial sentence is a possible outcome, consideration should be given to rescheduling the hearing for the shortest possible period of time, but not earlier than September 10.”

Decisions must be made on the basis of the interests of justice, he added.

Magistrates cannot ignore the listing direction.

Tom Franklin, chief executive of the Magistrates’ Association, said: “Another day, another sticking plaster to hold our crumbling justice system together.

“While this measure may be necessary in the short term, things can’t keep going on like this and we need a long-term plan and an injection of more resources at every stage of the justice process for recovery.”

Law Society of England and Wales president Nick Emmerson said: “This is another clear indicator of the scale of the crisis in our justice system and there are no easy solutions after decades of neglect.

“An urgent injection of funding is needed across our justice system. Otherwise, justice will continue to be delayed for victims and defendants.”

Mark Fairhurst, national chairman of the Prison Officers’ Association (POA), said: “We can accommodate anyone who is convicted, so we see no reason why justice should be delayed.”

The MoJ said: “The new government inherited a prisons crisis, and this is yet another sign of the pressures our justice system is facing. The changes coming into force in September will bring it under control.

“Independent judges decide when to schedule court hearings and do so in the interests of justice, including to ensure the effective operation of the criminal justice system.”