The Observer Britain will have the second biggest prison population in the western world within six years. Only the United States will put more people in jail. A Home Office report has predicted that the jail population will rise by a third by 2008, giving Britain the second highest ratio of prisoners to population in Europe and America. The report says the present prison population in England and Wales will rise from 64,600, to 83,500 within six years. Such a rise is of considerable concern,' said Andrew Coyle, director of the International Centre for Prison Studies.
Experts point to the serious consequences of a large prison population for society.
Overcrowded jails do not have the manpower to help rehabilitate prisoners. There is no logical reason why the population should hold at 83,500. American criminologists have long documented the harmful effects of their 'lockdown' society where severe jail sentences have become common. There are 1.85m Americans in jail, a quarter of the world's total prison population. Many US states have introduced a 'three strikes and you're out' policy, when three repeat offences result in a life sentence.