There are calls for magistrates in Bradford to hand down fewer prison sentences.

Magistrates in West Yorkshire gave 44,287 sentences during 2011, of which 1,613 were custodial, according to new figures.

The Howard League for Penal Reform says magistrates should impose more community sentences.

A Freedom of Information request by the charity found that 3.6 per cent of people dealt with by magistrates in the region were sent to prison, compared to 1.5 per cent in Warwickshire and 1.6 per cent in Northumbria.

The region is still below the national average of 3.8 per cent though and the number of people being jailed by magistrates in the area is falling. In 2001, 5.9 per cent of criminals were sent to prison, in 2006 the figure fell to 3.9 per cent.

The figures received a mixed reaction from the area’s MPs.

Bradford East MP David Ward (Lib Dem) said the focus should be on making sure people get the right punishment to reduce reoffending, rather than statistics.

The Liberal Democrat MP said: “What we’re trying to do, of course, all the time is get the appropriate sentence, whether it’s custodial or working with the probation service.”

Former Prisons Minister Gerry Sutcliffe, Labour MP for Bradford South, welcomed the reduction in the number of jail sentences in West Yorkshire, but said fewer people should be jailed across the country.

“I do believe we send too many people to prison. We have the highest prison population in the Western area,” he said.

Keighley and Ilkley Tory MP Kris Hopkins said there were dangers in politicians getting involved with the justice system.

He added: “The issue for me is to make sure we have competent, capable magistrates, which I think we have.”

Overall, magistrates’ courts in England and Wales reduced their use of custody by a quarter between 2001 and 2011. The maximum sentence that a magistrates’ court can impose is a six-month prison term, or up to 12 months in total for more than one offence.

Chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform Frances Crook said: “It is pleasing to see that magistrates’ courts are sending fewer people to prison overall than they have in the past.”