We remain committed to reducing crowding across the prison estate. In the year to March 2019, the proportion of prisoners held in crowded accommodation was 22.5%, down from 24.2% the previous year and levels of around 25% experienced since 2004.<\/p>
The Prime Minister\u2019s pledge to invest up to £2.5 billion to create 10,000 additional prison places will have a positive impact on lowering the proportion of crowding in the prison estate, providing accommodation that is safe, decent and uncrowded. However, the extent to which the proportion of prisoners held in crowded accommodation will reduce will be dependent on future prison population levels.<\/p>
Sentencing must match the severity of the crime and protecting the public will always be our priority. The sentencing reforms announced by the Government will ensure serious violent and sexual offenders spend longer in prison. The impact on the prison population will build up gradually over a number of years, and we will ensure that we have enough places for offenders sent by the courts.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4517", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lucy Frazer"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "South East Cambridgeshire"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Lucy Frazer"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2019-10-21", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2019-10-21T14:54:30.733Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "54"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Justice"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Justice"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2019-10-16", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Prisons: Overcrowding"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Answer of 4 October 2019 to Question 290625 on Sentencing, what steps his Department plans to take to alleviate overcrowding in prisons whilst implementing recently announced sentencing reforms.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/298", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Steve McCabe"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Birmingham, Selly Oak"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Steve McCabe"} ], "uin" : "866"} ], "itemsPerPage" : 10, "page" : 0, "startIndex" : 1, "totalResults" : 1, "type" : ["http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#ListEndpoint", "http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#Page"]} }