Hundreds of individuals throughout the UK are spending years in jail earlier than even standing trial, Sky News can reveal.
The numbers are solely rising because the justice system struggles to deal with a big backlog of courtroom instances.
People accused of crimes, however refused bail, are positioned on remand – which means they go to jail till their trial.
This may be for quite a lot of causes, however actually because a decide considers them harmful, or that they might be a flight threat.
The most period of time that an individual needs to be stored on remand is six months.
But information launched to Sky News below Freedom of Information legal guidelines exhibits that 1,244 folks have at the moment spent multiple 12 months on remand.
A complete of 219 folks have spent greater than two years in jail and the quantity ready three years or extra is 314.
Since final 12 months, there was a 12% enhance within the variety of folks spending greater than two years on remand.
They are folks like Louise Feeney’s companion, William. Accused of medicine expenses, which he denies, William suffers from most cancers.
He lately had main surgical procedure, however had to take action in custody. By the time he stands trial in 2023, he may have spent greater than two years behind bars.
Louise instructed us: “I get good days and bad days. It’s like living with grief, we’re just in limbo all the time. It’s just devastating. The kids… two birthdays have been missed.
“Death is simpler to take care of than remand. It seems like a jail sentence and not using a trial.”
The majority of people on remand, about two-thirds, have not yet stood trial.
The remainder are awaiting sentencing. Sky News has been told of one case of a man who will have spent three and a half years in prison before he is finally sentenced.
And Ministry of Justice statistics show that around one in five people on remand are not subsequently given a prison sentence.
Around one in 10 are acquitted fully, elevating the chance that rising numbers of harmless persons are spending years in jail for crimes they didn’t commit.
Penelope Gibbs, director of the charity Transform Justice, mentioned: “I’m afraid the situation is getting worse every day.
“And that is partly as a result of we now have a barrister strike. We are about to have a strike of essential courtroom workers, authorized advisors, and we even have the issue of not sufficient attorneys and never sufficient judges and never sufficient courtrooms.
“There are so many things which need to be done. For a start we should be much more judicial about using remand this pretrial detention system.”
Judges have the ability to increase deadlines for remand past the six-month most.
But delays to courtroom instances, made considerably worse by the closure of courtrooms through the pandemic, look like making this extra widespread.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice mentioned: “Decisions on bail applications are made by independent judges who ensure the public are protected. They have been prioritising remand cases following the unprecedented impact of the pandemic.”
The backlog of courtroom instances at the moment stands at practically 59,000. That is down from the post-pandemic peak of 61,000, however the numbers are rising once more.
Barristers at the moment are taking strike motion in protest in opposition to pay and dealing circumstances, as they are saying the system is struggling to manage.
The authorities warns that strike motion will solely enhance the delays and make issues worse.
Source: information.sky.com”