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The remand population has risen significantly since June 2019, exacerbated by the pandemic.
The remand population has risen significantly since June 2019, exacerbated by the pandemic. Photograph: Andrew Aitchison/In Pictures/Getty Images
The remand population has risen significantly since June 2019, exacerbated by the pandemic. Photograph: Andrew Aitchison/In Pictures/Getty Images

Defendants waiting over six months for trial up 15% in England and Wales

This article is more than 2 years old

Ministers urged to tackle ‘cruel’ delays, with most of those held beyond custody limit accused of non-violent offences

The government has been urged to tackle “cruel and unjust” waits for defendants in England and Wales to stand trial after figures showed a 15% yearly rise in the number of people being held for longer than the custody time limit of six months.

As of 31 December last year, there were 4,185 people who had been held for more than six months, more than half of whom – 2,279 – were in custody for alleged non-violent offences.

Almost two in five (38%) of those being held longer than six months were in custody for alleged drug offences, with 7% on remand for alleged theft. Others were charged with motoring offences being tried in magistrates courts, public order offences or fraud.

The remand population has risen significantly since June 2019, exacerbated by the pandemic. The latest figures, from December 2021, show a continued rise in people being held more than six months, a year and two years, compared with June last year.

Griff Ferris, a legal and policy officer at Fair Trials, said: “It’s cruel and unjust to keep people in prison for years awaiting trial.

“These unacceptable delays deny justice for everyone involved, including accused people and victims, while being held for months in these incredibly difficult conditions has a devastating impact on people’s lives and wellbeing, as we can see from the shocking rise of self-harm and suicide rates among remand prisoners.

“In order to address this crisis and the backlog of cases, the government must adopt meaningful, structural solutions, including de-criminalisation and releasing people from remand, rather than trying to find ways to put more people into prison.”

Ministry of Justice figures show that prisoners who were on remand had the highest rate of suicide last year – 2.5 per 1,000 prisoners, up from 1.7 in 2020. They accounted for 37% of all prison suicides, up from 28% the previous year.

Many people held in pre-trial detention eventually walk free. In 2020, one in 10 of those remanded before trial were acquitted and one in four of those remanded in custody were not sent to prison after their trial.

While the figures, provided by the justice minister James Cartlidge in response to a parliamentary question posed by the Labour MP Alex Cunningham, do not specify whether they include those awaiting sentence as opposed to just those awaiting trial, it is exceptionally rare to be held for more than six months awaiting sentence.

They show that 1,710 people had been held in custody for more than a year – compared with 1,523 in 2020 – including 730 for alleged drug offences and 118 for alleged theft. Out of the 1,710, 480 had been held for more than two years.

Custody time limits were extended in September 2020 from six to eight months before reverting to six months on 28 June last year.

In his written answer, Cartlidge said the number of people held on remand increased due to the suspension of jury trials for a short period in 2020 and reduced capacity because of social distancing.

He added: “Judges continue to work to prioritise cases involving CTLs [custody time limits] to ensure they are listed at the first available opportunity, as well as prioritising cases involving vulnerable complainants and witnesses (including youth cases), domestic abuse and serious sex cases.”

An MoJ spokesperson said: “Courts have prioritised remand hearings during the pandemic and only those posing the greatest risk to the public or who are likely to abscond are held in prison.

“Extensions to normal custody time limits must be approved by independent judges and defendants have the right to apply for bail.”

More on this story

More on this story

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  • Prisoners could be let out 60 days early to relieve crowded jails in England and Wales

  • Curators criticise decision to anonymise UK prisoners’ artistic works

  • Early prisoner release scheme extended indefinitely in England and Wales

  • MoJ steps in at private prison after series of suspected suicides

  • Boy kept in solitary confinement wins £31,500 payout

  • Trans inmates with history of violence against women to be mostly kept out of female Scottish jails

  • Child prisons in England and Wales ‘significantly more violent’ than adult jails

  • No toilets in 6,900 prison cells in England and Wales, minister reveals

  • Prison suicides in England and Wales rise by nearly a quarter

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