Jailings for fines down by 1,000 cases
And officials believe the trend will grow significantly over the coming years as the effects of the new system — only introduced at the start of the year — kicks in fully.
The imprisonment of offenders for failing to pay court-ordered fines has put enormous strain on the prison system, with numbers increasing almost four-fold between 2008 and 2015 — from 2,520 committals to 9,892 committals.
