Prisoners to be released two months early as jails are full
Burglars and shoplifters are among prisoners who will be released two months early as the country runs out of spare jail cells.
Justice Secretary Alex Chalk has confirmed emergency measures will be used to free up space because of the lack of places. He has extended an early release scheme introduced in October that allowed governors to let people out 18 days early. It has been extended to 35-60 days.
Sex offenders, convicted terrorists, category A prisoners and all violent offenders serving four or more years are excluded. Mr Chalk assured that the early release scheme, officially called the End of Custody Supervised Licence scheme, "will only be for certain low level offenders" and that prisoners will be tagged where necessary.
There are around 2,000 spaces left in UK prisons, with the population at 86,859, according to the most recent official statistics. The useable operational capacity of the estate is 88,987.
In a written ministerial statement published on Monday night, Mr Chalk said: "We will also extend the existing end of custody supervised licence measure to around 35-60 days. We will enable this to happen, for a time limited period, and work with the police, prisons and probation leaders to make further adjustments as required.
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"This will only be for certain low level offenders. Where necessary, electronic monitoring will be applied, enhancing public protection. Ministers will continue to keep use of this measure under review."
Shadow Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the public will be "rightly alarmed" by the announcement. “Successive Conservative governments have failed to build enough prison places," she said. "This has led to them granting early release to violent criminals, domestic abusers, and burglars. It’s a crisis of the Tories’ own making and it puts the public at risk."
She continued: "Under the cover of darkness, they’ve snuck out that they are extending the scheme from 18 days early release up to an unprecedented 60 days. The public will be rightly alarmed.
“After 14 years of the Tories, prison violence is still rocketing, staff are leaving in droves, and high reoffending rates mean prison leavers often end up back in custody. With population projections showing even more pressure in years to come, it paints a stark picture of how the Tories have lost control of jails.
“A Labour government would get these new prisons built to ease the capacity crisis. And we’ll make prisons work as part of our mission make Britain's streets safe.”
The Government's plan to create 20,000 extra prison places by the mid 2020s appears to have been unofficially dropped or delayed. Around 5,000 have been created and around 8,000 places are expected to have been delivered by 2025, which includes refurbishing some already existing cells. Short-term measures, such as making prisoners share cells, have been put in place to expand capacity.
Mr Chalk also announced plans to free up spaces by doubling the number of Foreign National Offenders (FNOs) who are returned to their home countries. FNOs make up 12% of prisoners in England and Wales.
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