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Criminal Justice Alliance comment on the prison inspectorate's annual report (24 February 2010)

Commenting on the outgoing chief inspector of prisons' last annual report, Jon Collins, Campaign Director for the Criminal Justice Alliance, said:

'In her final annual report, Anne Owers is right to identify falling budgets and a growing population as the key challenges facing the prison system.

'Two decades of mismanagement of the criminal justice system have resulted in a huge and unsustainable prison population. Unless action is taken to reduce the number of people in prison, crucial services will be closed as budgets are cut and reoffending will rise as a consequence. Prisons, already dangerously overcrowded, will become increasingly difficult to manage.

'With a general election looming, this report should act as a timely reminder that prisons policy needs a radical change in direction. The next government must listen to the warning of the Chief Inspector of Prisons before they lead the prison system further into disaster.'