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World

Open prisons are the answer to our jail crisis

28 December 2024

2:13 AM

28 December 2024

2:13 AM

Britain should move thousands of inmates into low-security open prisons, according to David Gauke, the former Tory justice secretary, who is chairing the government’s Sentencing Review. Gauke’s comments have sparked a predictably furious backlash, but he’s absolutely correct – and I should know.

Locking someone up costs the public about £52,000 per prison place each year

“We don’t make as much use of open prisons as we might do,” says Gauke, who thinks open prisons might be the answer to addressing the prison overcrowding crisis and reducing reoffending.

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