THE number of people in prison awaiting trial in England and Wales has reached its highest level in 50 years, a damning report by MPs has found. 

The Commons justice committee said the rise was being fuelled by a backlog in the courts as well as a lack of community provisions to support vulnerable groups such as drug addicts and rough sleepers. 

In its report published today, the committee warned that many remand prisoners are also being held for longer than the statutory six-month limit, with 770 prisoners kept behind bars for over two years while awaiting trial. 

The MPs say the prison system is failing remand prisoners, who receive little support inside jail and after their release, despite facing the same challenges as the wider prisoner population. 

While custodial remand has typically been used to protect the public from people charged with violent crimes or those at risk of absconding, the MPs found evidence that it is increasingly being used for non-violent offences. 

In some cases women were found to have been held in remand for crimes that do not carry a custodial sentence, while the report also warned that entire prisons risk becoming dedicated to remand prisoners by default. 

Justice committee chairman Sir Bob Neill said the power is too often being used as an “an easy option in cases of low-level repeat offending or social problems, with little thought for the lasting consequences this can have on the individual.”

He continued: “Depriving someone of their liberty under any circumstances can mean losing employment, accommodation and familial contact. 

“For this to happen when an individual is yet to be convicted of a crime is a serious measure and should not be taken lightly. Yet those subject to remand are not given adequate support to mitigate these effects.”

The MPs are calling for a review into the legislation that underpins the refusal of bail for defendants, and to improve the use of alternatives, such as electronic tagging or conditional bail. 

The report also calls for more support for remand prisoners, especially for those who are found to be innocent after spending time behind bars. 

Responding to the report, Prison Reform Trust Peter Dawson said it was bizarre that people held in custody who are later found not guilty are given no resettlement support. 

“More prisons won’t solve it – but investment in community, legal and probation services just might,” he said. 

Griff Ferris, senior legal and policy officer at Fair Trials, said: “With the highest level of remand in 50 years, a record number of people awaiting trial, and deep-rooted racist inequalities throughout, the criminal justice system in England and Wales is completely broken.

“The answer to these structural injustices and prejudices lie in decriminalisation and releasing people from custody, rather than the current government’s agenda of finding more ways to criminalise and imprison people.”

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “All remand prisoners can access education, drug treatment and mental health support, and we have increased this support by training more than 25,000 staff in suicide and self-harm prevention. 

“We are also reforming the law so people cannot be remanded solely for their own protection on mental health grounds.”