Prison crisis caused by ‘authoritarian arms race’ in British politics, claims shadow minister Baroness Chakrabarti
Labour MP said she had 'unilaterally abandoned' the party’s stance on being 'tough on crime'
THE PRISON crisis was caused by an "authoritarian arms race" in British politics, shadow cabinet minister Baroness Chakrabarti has claimed.
Her comments sparked anger from a Labour MP who said she had “unilaterally abandoned” the party’s stance on being “tough on crime”.
The former Liberty director had said the role of privately run prisons also had to be examined because they had a "commercial incentive" for an increased population behind bars.
Lady Chakrabarti said under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership, Labour was no longer in the arms race for who could appear toughest on crime.
She said: "In my adult lifetime I have seen a doubling of the prison population. I think this is caused by an authoritarian arms race in British politics, particularly between the two parties."
She was speaking after yet another prison disturbance, the fifth in recent weeks, after 60 inmates took control of a wing at HMP Swaleside last night and started fires.
The shadow attorney general said the political battle - triggered in the 1990s when Michael Howard was declaring "prison works" as home secretary and Tony Blair's Labour was vowing to be "tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime" - had led to overcrowded, understaffed prisons.
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"After my background I wouldn't have joined this Labour Party or this shadow cabinet if I didn't think there was an opportunity to at least reflect on what's been going on for nearly a quarter of a century,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
But after the interview John Spellar, backbencher and outspoken critic of Mr Corbyn’s leadership, said the peer “unilaterally abandons Labour's policy”, calling her appearance “car crash”.
Ms Chakrabarti said the role of private security firms needed to be looked at, along with the politically set framework that had led to increased prison populations.
"We need to ask questions about whether it is right that there are companies profiting from incarceration," she said.
"Private prisons are exempt from freedom of information so we can't deliver the same scrutiny in relation to G4S as we can in relation to public sector prisons.”
But a G4S spokesman said she was wrong to claim private firms had a financial incentive to see an increased population behind bars.
"In fact we run some of the most progressive programmes in the country aimed at reforming and rehabilitating prisoners in the hope that they turn away from crime on release," said the spokesman.