More prisoners to leave jail early in next phase of bid to free up cell space

More than 1,000 extra prisoners are set to be freed early this week as the Government puts the latest stage of its plan to ease jail overcrowding into action.

On Tuesday, around 1,100 inmates will be released as the policy is expanded to those serving sentences of five years or more.

It follows the first release of around 1,700 prisoners from jails across England and Wales on September 10.

This came after Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced plans in July to cut temporarily the proportion of sentences inmates must serve behind bars from 50% to 40% as the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said overcrowding had pushed jails to the “point of collapse”.

A steady stream of eligible prisoners have been leaving jails under the changes ever since. The policy is expected to be reviewed within 18 months.

As the plan was rolled out, the prisons watchdog warned it was “inevitable” some would go on to reoffend as he branded the plan “risky”.

The prison population of England and Wales hit a record high of 88,521 on September 6 this year, just days ahead of the first wave of releases.

A week later, on September 13, it had fallen sharply to 86,333 – a drop of 2,188 – but the figure has since risen and stood at 87,028 on October 18.

Last month the Prime Minister defended freeing criminals, including some convicted killers, early from prison as he blamed previous government inaction for forcing him into the move.

Sir Keir Starmer said he had no choice but to cut the amount of time prisoners would serve amid urgent efforts to tackle the jail overcrowding crisis.

The Government said the policy does not apply to those convicted of sex crimes and terrorism.

Efforts have been made to stop domestic abusers from being freed early but the terms of the plan mean not everyone with a history of such incidents is excluded, as it depends on the length of their sentence and type of offence.

Some of this summer’s rioters could walk free early under the scheme because there is no specific exclusion, although anyone convicted of serious violence and serving sentences of four years and over is not eligible.
Those convicted of manslaughter will be excluded if they have been sentenced to more than four years.

Some prisoners who are homeless on release could be temporarily housed in taxpayer-funded budget hotels if there is not enough space in bail hostels and other community accommodation typically used for offenders, Ms Mahmood previously told MPs.

Last week she announced more measures to ease overcrowding in jails and cut the court backlog by doubling magistrates’ sentencing powers.

The move means magistrates will be able to hand down prison sentences of up to a year – twice the length they are currently permitted to order.

Some welcomed the plans but called for longer term strategies and investment to fix problems in the criminal justice system.