250 remand inmates a year innocent

About 250 people a year are being remanded in prison to await trial under tough new bail laws and then escaping conviction.

The figures are contained in Cabinet papers released to the Herald which say up to 15 per cent of remand prisoners are either acquitted or have their charges dropped by police.

Men on remand spend an average of three weeks in jail for traffic offences and 50 days for drug, alcohol and property offences and women spend slightly less time behind bars.

Male violent offenders spend an average of nearly 80 days on remand.

The Corrections Department papers examine the unprecedented rise in the prison population and the pressure it has placed on the department.

Justice Minister Mark Burton is set to release details today of a revised prison muster forecast, shedding further light on how serious the problem is.

Sentencing, parole and bail law changes introduced from 2000 have been considered largely responsible for the increase, which has sparked a Government rethink.

Lawyers' groups have welcomed the change of heart, blaming the ditching of suspended sentences, a tightening of bail eligibility and home detention changes for the blow-out.

Criminal Bar Association president Peter Winter said yesterday that the revelation that up to 250 people a year were being locked up and then released without a conviction was of particular concern.

It reflected the tougher bail laws and raised questions about whether the "presumption of innocence" remained as important a factor as it should.

"What concerns me the most is that people who spend time in custody on remand and who are ultimately not convicted have got no redress so long as due processes were followed."

Several of his clients had been remanded at the Papakura police station cells over the weekend, where they had slept on a concrete floor with no mattress - even though their guilt or otherwise had not been established.

The papers say the Bail Act 2000 has increased the remand population from 11 to 13 per cent of the total muster to 20 per cent of the present one - now just under 7700.

Only half of all people remanded in custody actually go on to serve a custodial sentence and a further third are convicted and receive a community-based sentence, the papers confirm.

The remainder - about 15 per cent - do not go on to serve any sentence as the charges are dropped by police or the person is acquitted.

Analysis conducted on the monthly muster at the time the paper was written, November, shows that a "fairly substantial number" of people placed on remand have spent little or no time in jail.

"While the majority are facing charges relating to crimes of moderate or high seriousness, there is a not-insubstantial number with minimal previous exposure to prison and who face a charge of relatively low seriousness."

The papers say there has been a "sharp rise" in the number of people sentenced to jail since mid-2003 - when figures jumped 31 per cent for men. The number of women sentenced to prison soared by 86 per cent in that time.

The number of men aged 20 to 24 and over 40 being sentenced has grown rapidly.

About 500 extra people were sentenced for dishonesty offences in the last three financial years, which could be a result of a dedicated police crackdown on burglary, the papers show.

Sentences of less than six months, particularly for women, have grown by up to 65 per cent.

On average, inmates are serving 61 per cent of their sentences, not the one-third that some critics had feared.