Our national fetish has seen the England and Wales prison population soar by 90 per cent since 1990, standing at 85,500.26 We imprison people at a higher rate (146 per 100,000) than anywhere in Western Europe. Northern Ireland, by comparison, has an imprisonment rate of 76 per 100,000. Sweden’s figure is 57. Iceland’s is 38.27 Nearly 68,000 people were sent to prison in 2016. 71 per cent had committed a non-violent offence. And our sentences are getting longer. The average prison sentence for indictable offences has increased by over 25 per cent in the last decade.28 We have more prisoners
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