Prison sentences in England and Wales have kept getting longer under Labour, according to official figures. This so-called sentencing inflation has helped drive the crisis in prison capacity.
The Ministry of Justice published its quarterly criminal justice statistics on 22 October. They put the average custodial sentence in the year to June 2026 at 20.5 months. That is 0.6 months more than a year earlier. It is also 3.7 months longer than in the year to June 2017.
The rise over the latest 12 months appeared in both the Crown Court and magistrates’ courts. It covered every type of offence. Sentences for violence against the person rose most sharply.
More immediate custody
In total, the courts sent 86,700 offenders to immediate custody. That marks a 2 per cent increase on the previous year. It is also the highest annual figure since the year ending June 2018.
Most of that growth came in magistrates’ courts, after an increase in their sentencing powers. The shift in cases between the two jurisdictions has also lifted the average custodial term for indictable offences. It rose by 0.8 months to 22.8 months in the latest year.
The figures show fewer remands in custody in magistrates’ courts. Across both magistrates and the Crown Court, remands in custody fell by 2 per cent. The number of cases handled rose by 1 per cent.
Out of court resolutions continued to grow, up 5 per cent from 219,500 to 230,700. Police use of community resolutions rose by 9 per cent, from 173,900 to 189,000.
Years of longer sentences have filled the prisons. Successive governments have turned to controversial early release schemes to stop jails running out of space.
Short sentences persist
Sentences of under 12 months still made up 57 per cent of all custodial sentences. Their spread across the courts has changed since magistrates gained greater powers.
Antonia May Cross is director of communications and campaigns at the charity Revolving Doors. She said: “This gives us no reason to be optimistic that the presumption against short sentences is working.”
She criticised the continued heavy use of short prison terms. In her view, decades of evidence show they do not work and cause harm.
She did welcome the growth in out of court resolutions. She said the charity wanted more data on who receives them and in what circumstances.
