5 changes for 2025

As the new year begins, the need for meaningful reform in the UK Criminal Justice System has never been clearer. Overcrowded prisons, underfunded services, and policies that fail to address systemic issues continue to strain the system and harm the individuals within it.

At Open Justice, we believe that bold changes are needed to create a fairer, more effective system that prioritizes rehabilitation, health, and humanity. What follows are five transformative and practical measures that could be implemented immediately to make a difference.

1. Reduce the prison population.

   
   

   By the end of this decade, the prison population could exceed 100,000. This represents a 30% increase over the last twenty years. In July 2024, new measures sought to ease the pressure on prison capacity through early release. Yet, rather than creating a long-sighted strategy to reduce the numbers of people in prison, recent government proposals have doubled-down on prison expansion, committing funds to the creation of 14,000 new prison places.

   
   

   Expansion is no strategy: England and Wales together now have the highest imprisonment rate in western Europe. Expansion means increased pressure on a system already overloaded and unfit for purpose. Open Justice calls for this Government to commit itself to a reduction in the prison population.

   
   

2. Decent healthcare for all

   
   

   Government guidelines recognise that helping offenders recover from addiction and illness forms a crucial part of rehabilitation, and that care within prisons should be at least equivalent to that provided on the outside. Yet the provision of healthcare in prisons, as we have written about elsewhere, remains dangerously inadequate to the complex needs of the prison population.

   
   

   This is particularly true when mental health is considered. The rate of self-harm incidents in prisons continues to grow at an alarming rate: up 20% in 2023 when compared to the previous year. As a report from the Independent Monitoring Boards described last year, the prison service is too often using segregation to isolate individuals who urgently need support and psychiatric care.

   
   

   Open Justice calls for the National Prison Healthcare Board to set out clear targets and measures of success for a reduction in self-injury and self-inflicted death, including improving access to psychological therapies, especially for those with mild to moderate mental health needs.

   
   

3. An end to custodial sentences for pregnant women

   
   

   The Sentencing Council has acknowledged the disproportionate harm inflicted on pregnant women by custodial sentencing. Pregnant women should be protected from custody. Research has repeatedly shown that prison is not safe for pregnant women and unborn babies.

   
   

   In 2023, we reported on the devastating effects of prisons on the over 300,000 children who are separated from their parents as a result of sentencing. 72% of women in prison have been convicted of non-violent offences: the level of trauma experienced by their children, often very young, and their wider family is a violence that we must not turn away from.

   
   

   Open Justice calls for new sentencing guidelines that end custodial sentences for pregnant women. Further to this, young children, particularly of a single parent household, must be considered as part of "impact on dependants", where custodial sentencing will have a detrimental impact.

   
   

4. Adequate funding for the probation service

   
   

   As reported in September 2024, the probation service has been working over capacity every month since January 2023. A significant and long-term shortfall in staff has been acknowledged by the HM Inspectorate of Probation as a crisis of "chronic under-staffing". As one probation officer explained to the BBC: "We used to have around eight appointments a day - some with people of high risk... but that's gone up to 12 appointments - colleagues are crying at their desks as it's too much."

   
   

   Governments have repeatedly promised to reform rehabilitation and properly support former prisoners as they leave prison. It is impossible to imagine how such support can be provided by a service that is in crisis. Open Justice calls for a significant increase in funding for the probation service, in order to give former prisoners the best chance of reintegration upon release.

   
   

5. Listen to the voices of those affected

The voices of prisoners, their families, and others directly impacted by the Criminal Justice System are often overlooked in policymaking. Yet we know that these perspectives are crucial in order to understand the realities of imprisonment and rehabilitation.

Prisoners and their families often highlight issues that are invisible to policymakers, such as the challenges of maintaining family ties, the indignities of overcrowded facilities, and the barriers to accessing education and work opportunities. Ignoring these experiences only perpetuates a cycle of poor policy decisions that fail to address the root causes of offending or systemic failures within the system.

If we want to break this cycle, the voices of those directly affected by imprisonment must be heard. This includes consulting with prisoners, former prisoners, and their families, as well as incorporating their input into policymaking processes.