Dame Anne Owers warns court delays leave remand inmates freed without vital resettlement support
Remand prisoners are being released straight from court without any support after serving the equivalent of their sentence while awaiting trial, a government‑commissioned review has revealed.
The independent prison capacity review, led by Dame Anne Owers, warns that chronic court backlogs are driving up the remand population and creating damaging consequences both for individuals and the prison system as a whole.
Owers, a former chief inspector of prisons, said delays in the courts mean many remand prisoners have already served the length of their eventual sentence before they are even sentenced. In such cases, they are released directly from the dock without any preparation for life outside.
Embed from Getty Images“The rise in the remand population has largely been the result of court pressures over recent years,” Owers wrote. She noted that roughly a third of those held on remand are already convicted but unsentenced. Ministry of Justice figures show that in 2023, 71% of defendants remanded from crown courts went on to receive a custodial sentence.
For some, the wait is so long that the day of sentencing becomes their release date. “Indeed a number are released directly from court when they finally get there, as they have already served their sentence on remand,” the review states, citing analysis from MoJ statisticians.
Prison officers interviewed during the review described their unease at seeing inmates freed under these circumstances. These prisoners, they warned, leave without any pre‑release resettlement planning and often have had no contact with offender managers during their time inside.
The absence of structured support, Owers concluded, leaves former remand prisoners at risk of homelessness, unemployment and reoffending — and places additional strain on communities and public services.
The review suggests that alternative provision could help reduce the number of people held on remand, particularly those whose offending or failure to attend court is linked to unstable housing, substance misuse or chaotic lifestyles.
For young people, the Youth Justice Board is already trialling schemes that offer community‑based alternatives to custody. Similar initiatives could be rolled out for adults, Owers said, pointing to the success of women’s centres in offering “holistic” services to women at risk of offending.
Such centres provide tailored support on issues like addiction, domestic abuse, mental health and employment, often working with courts to offer bail supervision or diversion programmes instead of remand.
However, the review warns that scaling up these models would require a “systematic approach to funding” — and political will. Without such investment, Owers cautions, prisons will continue to face avoidable capacity pressures while vulnerable individuals are pushed through a cycle of custody and crisis.
The findings come against the backdrop of a prison system under severe strain, with overcrowding, staff shortages and limited resources compounding the challenge of managing a growing remand population.
Campaigners have long argued that the overuse of remand is both costly and counter‑productive. The Owers review lends weight to these concerns, highlighting the unintended consequences of a justice system unable to process cases swiftly.
While the Ministry of Justice has pledged to tackle backlogs and improve resettlement services, the review makes clear that without decisive action, the problem will persist — leaving courts, prisons and communities to deal with the fallout.
