Britain’s new Labour government has announced it may release prisoners who have served 40% of their sentences as a way to ease overcrowding in prisons across the country.
“The guilty parties of the previous regime have left prisons on the brink of collapse,” UK Justice Minister Shabana Mahmood wrote on social media platform X. “They put political interests above the nation and have left it facing a total breakdown of law and order.”
“Today I announced emergency measures to address the prison crisis,” she asserted.
In a press release, Mahmood said there are “only a few hundred places remaining” in adult male prisons, and that UK prisons have been operating at “over 99% capacity since the beginning of 2023” and are expected to reach full capacity within weeks.
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To address this issue, Mahmoud approved changes to early release measures, reducing the amount of prison sentences served in prison from 50 percent to 40 percent, but stressed that the policy includes “significant safeguards and exemptions” to protect the public’s safety.
Wandsworth Prison, London, England. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
The policy will come into effect in September and will include “regular publication of releases based on modifications to standard determinate sentences.”
In the UK, offenders who have committed certain types of crimes are often “released on parole”, with the same conditions as for probationers, including regular contact with a supervising officer, reporting all addresses and movements to the court, approval of any work, and a ban on travelling outside the UK.
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The Ministry of Justice claimed in a press release that the new policy would result in the early release of more than 10,000 prisoners, representing roughly 11 percent of the total prison population. The New York Times quoted Before UK prisons reached maximum “operating capacity”, the total number of inmates was just under 89,000.
ABC News reported that if the old policies remain unchanged, the prison’s total population could reach about 99,000 by the end of next year. Mahmood warned that overcrowding would force local police departments to use prison cells, a ripple effect that would overwhelm the justice system.
Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood visited Bedford Prison in Halpur, Bedfordshire, to announce plans to tackle prison overcrowding amid fears the prison will run out of capacity within weeks. (Joe Giddens/PA Images via Getty Images)
The new policy will not apply to anyone convicted of a sexual or domestic violence-related offence, including stalking, controlling or coercive behaviour in an intimate or family relationship, or non-fatal strangulation or suffocation, or anyone convicted of violating a restraining order or abuse prevention order.
Under previous policy, anyone given a life sentence and released on parole was required to maintain the terms of their parole for the rest of their life.
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Families of victims have already bristled at the plan, and outside regulators have expressed concern that if existing prisons cannot accommodate such a large number of people, they will be overwhelmed by the influx of new parolees as well.
“If the system can’t cope with people being released into society, they won’t be properly monitored,” said Farah Naz, the aunt of murder victim Zara Arena. He told BBC BreakfastHe cited a lack of funding for the probation service as the reason.
Mahmoud is expected to introduce emergency measures, including shortening the time before some prisoners are automatically released. (Joe Giddens/PA Images via Getty Images)
“When people, criminals and even thieves are not properly monitored, crime can escalate. It doesn’t always escalate, but it can,” Naz added.
The killer who murdered 9-year-old Olivia Pratt Corbell in 2022 was a man who was on parole. According to the Independent.
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Those convicted of murder automatically receive a life sentence, whereas manslaughter, for example, carries an average determinate sentence of 20 years for licence purposes. According to the Sentencing CouncilBut the new system would lengthen sentences and make it more difficult for violent offenders to gain parole.
Those released under the new system will be monitored through measures such as electronic tagging and curfews, and there are efforts to impose stricter measures on those eligible for early release.
The former H Block Maze prison in Long Kesh, near Lisburn, Northern Ireland, on Monday, June 24, 2024. Political action must be taken to match the potential of the former Maze prison site and begin a comprehensive redevelopment, First Minister Michelle O’Neill has said. (Niall Carson/PA Images via Getty Images)
“There is now only one way to avert disaster,” Mahmoud argued. “I would not have chosen this of my own volition, but we are taking all the safeguards available to us. Let me be clear: these are emergency measures.”
Mahmood added that the policy was temporary, stressing her “firm” belief that “criminals must be punished.”
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The Ministry of Justice aims to recruit 1,000 additional probation officer trainees by March 2025 and has pledged to increase transparency to the public on sentencing issues.
The new prison governor, James Timpson, CEO of lock-cutting and shoe-repair service Timpsons, has called for prison reform, calling for a reduction in prison populations and a renewed focus on developing rehabilitation programmes including training, education and treatment. The BBC reported:.
