Labour's justice policy jails far too many people, says Hain

Labour's justice policy jails far too many people, says Hain


Women and black men suffer most, he says
Deputy leadership runners square up for debate

Tania Branigan and David Hencke
Friday June 15, 2007
The Guardian

Labour's criminal justice policy is unfair and ineffective, the deputy leadership candidate Peter Hain said yesterday, calling for more community-based sentences.

The Northern Ireland secretary warned that tough sentencing policies were "not working and not effective". They were particularly unfair to women inmates, most of whom had been locked up for non-violent crime, and young black men.

Mr Hain told the ePolitix website: "Far too many people are in prison who should not be in prison ... Prison is not working when the number of prisoners is shooting up, suicides are at record levels and the rate of reoffending is going up as well. We need a new approach that reserves prison for serious and violent offenders."

Hazel Blears, Labour's chairwoman, later suggested that the government had yet to convince voters that its criminal justice policies were working for them, as the six candidates to replace John Prescott faced each other on BBC1's Question Time. Alan Johnson, education secretary; Harriet Harman, justice minister; Hilary Benn, international development secretary and backbencher Jon Cruddas are also fighting for the role.

Earlier, it emerged that Ms Blears had taken a £10,000 donation for her campaign from a law firm that boasts it can cut compensation claims from workers "even in situations where the employer has an extremely weak case". The website of Peninsula Business Services Ltd, based in her Salford constituency, says it has overturned many employment tribunal decisions through reviews and appeals.

The Labour backbencher Kevan Jones, who as a former GMB official has defended workers against companies backed by Peninsula, said it was "disgraceful" that Ms Blears had taken money from such a firm: "She should give the money back."

Ms Blears said: "Peninsula is a reputable company, providing advice on health and safety and good employment systems to small organisations, helping them stay on the right side of the law. Their donation ... has been declared to the Electoral Commission in an open way."

John Hannett, general secretary of Usdaw, which is backing her, said: "While I do not know about this company, Hazel Blears takes the lead in our campaigns to protect trade unionists."

Peter Done, managing director of Peninsula, said: "We aim to improve industrial relations and harmony in the workplace and to resolve disputes at an early stage. Less than 1% of all the issues we advise on end up at employment tribunal."