An incoming Government should consider scrapping most sentences of up to a year in length, in order to tackle the prison overcrowding crisis, a former Labour Justice Secretary has said.

Lord Falconer, who was justice secretary in Tony Blair’s government, has backed a report recommending that offenders should instead be handed suspended sentences, combined with community punishments, to reduce the flow of offenders into jails.

The report, by the Centre for Justice Innovation (CJI), of which Lord Falconer is patron, also proposed an incoming Government should reduce the time served by most prisoners jailed for up to four years, from 50 per cent of their sentence to 40 per cent.

Lord Falconer, who oversaw an early release scheme in 2007 when the prison system last ran out of space, said: “This new report demonstrates the acute and interlinked crises facing the criminal justice system. The report warrants serious study and consideration by whoever forms the next Government.”

It is understood both options have been drawn up by officials on the orders of Alex Chalk, the Justice Secretary, ready for the next government to decide. Shabana Mahmood, the shadow justice secretary, has said she is ruling nothing in or out until the party has seen the true scale of the prisons crisis.

Ministers have been warned that prisons could run out of places by the time of the election on July 4, despite the introduction of an early release scheme allowing offenders to go free up to 70 days before their scheduled date.

The CJI report said an incoming Government should consider reviving legislation drawn up by Mr Chalk that would introduce a presumption against jail for any offender sentenced to fewer than 12 months, excluding crimes of a sexual, violent or terrorist nature.

“A new Government could re-introduce the presumption (or a version of it, looking at very short sentences of three months or less initially),” the report said.

It added the current measures to tackle overcrowding, including early release, were not enough. “The reality is that, because of past failures to tackle the sources of demand on our prisons and failure to build sufficient prison capacity, there are no good options left on the table,” it said.

The report proposes emergency secondary legislation – which could be introduced quickly – to shorten from 50 per cent to 40 per cent the time served for offenders sentenced to up to four years, excluding those assessed to pose a high risk of serious harm to the public.

‘System is failing victims’

“We acknowledge this recommendation means that people imprisoned for shoplifting, possession and supply of drugs, and burglary (to take some of the most common offences) are released earlier than they would have been,” the CJI said.

“It means releasing some people who would have served 24 months in prison after only 19 months, some who would have served 12 months serving only 10. It means the victims of the crimes those people have committed will receive less by way of retributive punishment.

“But we see no alternative. The system is already unable to deliver what it says it will, through the various early release schemes. The system is already letting down victims and our communities by not properly addressing the root causes of people’s offending.”

The report also recommended a radical rethink of remand prisoners, whose numbers have hit a record 16,000, representing a sixth of the total of 88,000 people in jail. It said people whose time on remand matched or surpassed the sentence they could get should be offered their freedom if they agree to a guilty plea.

Courts clogged up

Once prison capacity had been increased, the report said it would be possible to reduce backlogs in the Crown Court. One option would be to bring in district judges (who currently sit in the magistrates’ courts) and make more use of part-time recorders and retired circuit judges.

They would offer a sentencing discount of 25 per cent if the defendant accepted an expedited non-jury trial. This could reduce the current workload of the Crown Court by about one fifth.

Phil Bowen, director of the CJI, said: “Whoever enters the Ministry of Justice as the new lord chancellor on 5 July will be faced with a set of challenges more daunting than any witnessed in a generation. Urgent and immediate action will be needed to stave off imminent crisis in our prisons.

“If that can be achieved, the task ahead is to commit to serious and sustainable reform over the next Parliament and beyond.”