Northern Ireland has twice as many people in prison waiting on sentencing as England or Wales.
A new report from the Criminal Justice Inspectorate (CJI) laid out the disparities between NI, other parts of the United Kingdom and Ireland.
“Northern Ireland has one of the highest rates for remanding people in custody in Europe – with figures double compared to England and Wales," said Deputy Chief Inspector James Corrigan who led the inspection of bail and remand.
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"In 2021-22, almost 80% of all prison committals were remand prisoners and nearly 40% of our prison population were unsentenced prisoners.
“Defendants who have spent time on remand in prison but are later released on bail or having served their time prior to conviction, miss opportunities to utilise prison-based rehabilitation programmes, meaningfully address offending behaviour or reduce the risk of offending in the future.
“Unlike England and Wales, the use of police bail in Northern Ireland has not been the subject of any recent significant review, consultation, or legislative change."
The Chief Inspector of Criminal Justice for NI, Jacqui Durkin, said urgent reform of bail and remand legislature was needed to bring it in line with other parts of the UK.
“Victims are left waiting and too often are not kept informed of changes made to bail conditions or case progress," she said.
"Court lists and Judicial, Court staff, prosecutor and defence time and costs, are spent dealing with recurring bail and remand hearings,” said the Chief Inspector.
“At the same time our prisons are dealing with high numbers of men and women, neither convicted nor sentenced, some who are with them for long periods while others are in and out in a few days if they get bail."
The Chief Inspector has recommended that the Department of Justice and PSNI develop an options paper to introduce time limits on police bail, as the case backlog caused by the pandemic continues.
The CJI also recommended that a Bail Act, first proposed 10 years ago, remained an outstanding measure which could provide greater certainty around bail.
Recommendations also included greater electronic monitoring for people on bail as an alternative to being remanded in custody.
“How this is achieved is no mean feat for any future Minister of Justice to deliver," Ms Durkin said.
"We all know that the prolonged absence of an Executive and legislature has a significant impact on many areas of much needed reform.
"But another decade cannot slip by as we fall yet further behind other jurisdictions and opportunities to improve the operation of the bail and remand system to better support the criminal justice system in Northern Ireland are lost."
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