Nigel Farage questions whether ‘unreformable’ prisoners should be locked up ‘almost indefinitely’
Nigel Farage has called for a debate on whether “unreformable” repeat offenders should be imprisoned “almost indefinitely” to protect society.
Speaking on GB News, Nigel pointed to statistics showing that just 10 per cent of people who cycle through the prison system are responsible for half of all crimes committed.
His comments come as the government grapples with a deepening prisons crisis, with Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood admitting that even plans for 14,000 new prison places by 2031 won’t be enough to meet demand.
He said: “When Labour criticises the former Conservative government for not building enough prisons, they’re right, and the Conservatives admit that themselves.
“This plan is for four super prisons, and what a mess this whole thing is with letting offenders out early. The re-offence rates are horrendous.
“But the thing that really interests me is this report that shows that just 10 per cent of people who come in and out of prison are committing 50 per cent of the crimes.
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“Maybe that’s where we should put the super prisons and put all those people in there, perhaps almost forever. We should, in a society, seek to begin with at least, to rehabilitate people who’ve gone off the rails.
“I absolutely accept that, and I totally believe in a spirit of Christian forgiveness. But isn’t the problem that you’ve got these people who literally spend their lives going in and out of prison, and frankly, are unreformable?
“But isn’t the problem that you’ve got these people who literally spend their lives going in and out of prison, and frankly, are unreformable?
“Some leave prison with no address and then getting a job becomes even harder. And I do understand all of that but just back to my earlier point.
“There are some people who don’t want to work. There are some people who opt for a criminal lifestyle.
“Should we not be putting those people away for much, much longer, frankly, to protect the rest of us?”
His comments align with growing concerns about prison capacity, as thousands of inmates have been freed early since September in a bid to reduce overcrowding.
The Justice Secretary announced plans for four new prisons on Wednesday, with £2.3billion allocated over the next two years.
Some 6,400 spaces will come from newly built facilities, with the remainder created through expanding existing jails and refurbishing out-of-action cells.
However, Ms Mahmood admitted to BBC Radio 4 that even these measures won’t prevent prisons running out of space.
“We will run out because even all of that new supply doesn’t help you with the rise in demand, because demand is still rising faster than any supply could catch up with,” she said.
The Government estimates suggest prisoner numbers could exceed 100,000 by 2029.