The ministers have announced a plan to increase the number of offenders and remand prisoners released into bail accommodation in England and Wales. This is supposed to be less expensive than prison. But the public would want reassurance that their safety wasn’t in jeopardy. The running of the Bail Accommodation and Support Service was taken over this month by private firm Stonham. The company took up the contract from another private firm, ClearSprings, which ran more than 200 centres in England and Wales.
It has been confirmed that from Stonham, 740 beds would be made available. How this system works: The bail hostel service houses prisoners freed early on electronic tags, offenders serving community sentences and defendants awaiting trial. But critics including the National Association of Probation Officers, have c0ndemned the idea of using private firms to run bail hostels amid fears over supervision standards.
But a Ministry of Justice spokeswoman said bail accommodation prevented people from “needlessly and unjustly being held in prison”. “They are not hostels, these properties are private accommodation maintained by a contractor. “People living in these properties receive individually tailored support from a visiting support officer to help them maintain the terms of their bail or licence conditions. ”Those who are believed to pose a high risk of harm, or who pose an unacceptable risk to other residents, neighbours or any other person will also continue to be excluded,” she said.
The plan would also allow prisoners near their families and work. The ministry awarded the contract to ClearSprings in 2007, paying it £5.8m in 2008-09 to manage bail accommodation. The prison population in England and Wales reached a record high in April, exceeding 85,000.
