GOVERNMENT efforts to look “tough on crime” have led to an overwhelmed and ineffective prisons system, a review of last year’s capacity crisis has found.

The Independent Sentencing Review said that the “unstrategic manner” of increasing sentences over decades have meant ways to cut crime and reduce reoffending have been overlooked.

England and Wales have one of the highest prison population rates in western Europe despite an overall decline in crime since the mid-1990s, the review chaired by former justice secretary David Gauke said.