Prison system crisis due to overreliance on long sentences, says Gauke review

Successive governments' 'penal populism' has driven England and Wales justice system to brink of collapse, report finds Successive governments' overreliance on prison sentences and desire to seem "tough on crime" have driven the justice system in England and Wales to the brink of collapse, an official review has found. A form of "penal populism" where longer incarceration is seen as the only effective means of punishment has contributed to the crisis in the prison system, according to the interi...