Our prisons are nearly full to bust once again so the Ministry of Justice has been flying some kites ahead of the review of sentencing led by recovered Tory David Gauke. The ‘leaked’ idea involves the reintroduction of remission of time spent in prison for good behaviour. While the Justice Secretary Shabanna Mahmood is said to be impressed with how a similar system in Texas cut the prison population dramatically, the idea of time of your sentence for behaving yourself is quintessentially British.
Most episodes of the BBC comedy Porridge will contain a reference to remission, granted or removed and how it shapes an offender’s journey. That’s because from 1948 to 1991 it was embedded in the system.
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