The justice secretary is to set out plans to address prison overcrowding in the UK after concerns that jails may run out of space within weeks, including plans to release prisoners early as confirmed by the BBC.
Shabana Mahmood has said emergency measures are needed to ‘pull the justice system back from the brink of total collapse’. However the Law Society of England and Wales have expressed that ‘safeguards should be put in place to minimise risks to the public’.
Prisoners on standard determinate sentences are expected to be released after they have served 40% rather than 50% of their sentence.
“The new Lord Chancellor has acted pragmatically and decisively to tackle a prisons crisis she inherited,” said Law Society of England and Wales president Nick Emmerson.
“It will be important to ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place so that any risks to the public are minimised. The concerns of victims who are having to wait years for justice and then see offenders released early must also be recognised. We are encouraged that the Lord Chancellor appears to be very alert to this issue.
“The prisons crisis is just one of many connected problems in the criminal justice system following decades of underfunding and cuts. We have seen growing backlogs in the magistrates and Crown Courts, a shortage of lawyers, judges and court staff and a crumbling court estate. Probation services are still on their knees.
“When the justice system is in crisis the rule of law and public protection are at risk. The emergency in our prisons illustrates the consequences of the neglect of the criminal justice system.We hope this announcement will create the time and space for a more fundamental review of solutions to this wider crisis.”
New Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the situation with prisons was “shocking” and showed “gross irresponsibility” from the previous government. His Labour administration needed to “pick this up and we have to fix it”, he said, speaking during a news conference at the Nato summit in Washington.
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Divorce not only costs the economy £51bn a year, but also costs mployers £54bn a year. Divorce is the biggest expense employers don’t know they have. These losses are made up of 40% decrease in productivity for at least two years; 10% of those going through divorce leave or are asked to leave their job thus adding recruitment and retraining costs at a time when there is a skills and knowledge shortage. People going through divorce take extra days, sometimes unpaid, for legal, financial and medical appointments.
Divorce is a life event in the same way as births, deaths, and marriages but employers don’t regard it as such. Less than 7% of employers have a policy which offers flexible working conditions for people going through divorce. Virtually no employer has a specialist trained person that can give emotional and practical support and guidance during and after divorce. The most they do in the majority of cases, if anything, is refer the person on to a mental health counsellor who probably has no experience of the nuances of the divorce process.
Employers need educating and about divorce to raise awareness of managers and supervisors for the signs to look out for. Many employers have people trained in mental health first aid, bereavement counselling, menopause and domestic abuse champions but none have specially trained corporate divorce first aiders who can support and guide employees through the divorce minefield.
We trained two staff members from a north west police force as divorce first aiders (divorce coaches) who, within a month of qualifying had supported five colleagues. With the average age of divorce being 45, we are talking about experienced and senior employees. Can businesses afford to lose this level of experience?
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