The UK government is set to reveal proposals on Friday that would grant early release to prisoners as a measure to prevent jails from becoming overcrowded. Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood is expected to announce a package of emergency measures designed to free up space in prisons. The government officials have affirmed that their primary solution will be to automatically release prisoners on “standard determinate sentences” after they have served 40% of their sentence. This is in contrast to the current policy of releasing prisoners after they have served half of their sentence. However, the plan will exempt sexual and serious violent offenders from early release.
Speaking about the situation, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, currently in Washington DC for a NATO summit, acknowledged the severity of the problem: “Some of what we’ve found is shocking, not so much about the finances, but I have to say, on prisons. The situation is worse than I thought it was. I’m pretty shocked that it’s been allowed to get into that situation. It’s reckless to allow them to get into that place.” Last week, the Prison Governors’ Association, which represents 95% of prison governors in England and Wales, issued a warning that jails would run out of space soon.
Former Justice Secretary Alex Chalk, who was in office until just last week when his party lost power in the general election, stated that the early release plan would allow the government “18 months” before the prisons reach the limit again. He added that: “It won’t buy you any more than that.” Meanwhile, the Ministry of Justice has started to build six new prisons to create more space, while Labour has not yet produced a new policy. However, James Timpson, a former shoe repair chain boss who recruits ex-offenders, was appointed as the new Prisons Minister by Sir Keir, which suggests that the opposition will adopt a different approach.
It is worth mentioning that the last time the UK operated such an early release scheme was at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, when it released thousands of prisoners to control the virus’ spread. searchTerm
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