Limit Campaign On Remand Prisoners

EDM number 710 in 1995-96, proposed by Lynne Jones on 02/04/1996.

That this House welcomes the campaign by LIMIT to change the law so that remand prisoners are brought to trial within a reasonable time; notes that each remand prisoner costs the taxpayer ú300 to ú400 per week; further notes that currently the total bill for remand prisoners is ú220 million a year or ú600,000 per day and that added to this is the cost of repeated court appearances, legal representation and transportation; points out that remand is the fastest growing element of the rapidly increasing prison population, accounting for 25 per cent. of prisoners at present and that the average time spent on remand has doubled in the last 10 years; believes that protracted remand time in prison damages victims of crime, undermines public morale, destroys innocent prisoners' lives, breaks family and social ties, causes eviction from homes and loss of employment and works against the cause of justice; and urges that remand should be conducted along the lines of the system in Scotland, under which a prisoner may be held only for 110 days and must be released after this period if a case has not been brought.

This motion has been signed by a total of 46 MPs.