Law and Disorder

The Prisons Crisis, with Ian Burnett

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Episode notes

Britain's prisons are in crisis. In the past week, we've seen the early release of some 1,500 prisoners in order to free up space in our nation's jails. But how did we get here? On this week's Law & Disorder, Charlie Falconer, Helena Kennedy and Nicholas Mostyn are joined by Ian Burnett, who served as Lord Chief Justice from 2017 to 2023. They have a candid and critical discussion about the state of our prisons, the nature of sentencing (and sentence inflation), and whether there are any remedies to hand.


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Law and Disorder is a Podot podcast.

Executive Producer and Editor: Nick Hilton.

Associate Producer: Ewan Cameron.

Music by Richard Strauss, arranged and performed by Anthony Willis & Brett Bailey.

PR by Sally Jones.



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