UK govt mulls limiting jail sentences of six months or less

The British government is considering scrapping jail sentences of six months or less for most crimes in a bid to reduce reoffending and ease pressure on the system, the prisons minister said on Saturday.

The move could see tens of thousands of people convicted of non-violent or non-sexual crimes, such as burglary and shoplifting, spared jail under the plan, Rory Stewart told The Daily Telegraph.

In an interview with the newspaper's magazine, he said that short jail terms were “long enough to damage you and not long enough to heal you.

“You bring somebody in for three or four weeks, they lose their house, their job, their family, their reputation.

“They come (into prison), they meet a lot of interesting characters and then you whap them on to the streets again,” he said.

England and Wales's prison population has doubled since the early 1990s to now stand at more than 80,000 inmates, official figures show.

Meanwhile more than half of the 86,275 offenders sentenced to immediate custody in 2017 were given sentences of six months or less.

The country's prisons are considered in a state of crisis, with violence and drug use on the rise.

(AFP)