Some serious offenders will be eligible for early release under a scheme to free up prison space in England and Wales, the Ministry of Justice has admitted, despite saying previously they would not qualify.
The MoJ has confirmed that prisoners who have completed a sentence for a serious crime and are now serving a consecutive sentence for a lesser one would be allowed to leave prison earlier than planned.
Officials said prisoners serving a sentence for a less serious crime could leave after completing 40% of it, even if that sentence immediately followed one for a more serious crime.
The admission comes after an investigation by Channel 4 News found that one prisoner who had completed a sentence for serious sexual offences and was serving one for a lesser crime would be allowed to leave jail within weeks, rather than next year as previously planned.
A spokesperson for the MoJ said: “The new government inherited a justice system in crisis, with prisons on the point of collapse. It has been forced to introduce an early release programme to stop a crisis that would have overwhelmed the criminal justice system, meaning we would no longer be able to lock up dangerous criminals and protect the public.
They added: “The new lord chancellor announced in July that she was scrapping the previous government’s early release scheme, replacing it with a system which gives probation staff more time to prepare for a prisoner’s release. The government has also set out plans to recruit over 1,000 new trainee probation officers by March 2025 to meet additional demand.”
Early releases are planned to start next week after the justice secretary, Shabana Mahmood, announced in July that prisons were running out of places. Mahmood said the system was “on the point of collapse”, calling the previous government “the guilty men” who had endangered the public by not investing in new prison places.
By the end of August, there were reportedly only 100 places left in men’s prisons in England and Wales.
Under Labour’s scheme, offenders can leave prison after serving 40% of their sentence, rather than 50% under previous guidelines. The scheme will be reviewed after 18 months; 5,500 people will be released earlier than planned in September and October alone.
The National Association of Probation Officers has said the plans pose a risk to the public, but ministers have attempted to mitigate that by exempting those convicted of serious and violent crimes.
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Officials said at the time that the new scheme would not apply to most serious offenders, who already either spend two-thirds of their sentence behind bars or have their release determined by the Parole Board.
Now, however, officials say the rules will also apply to serious and violent offenders if they have served their time for those offences and are in jail on a consecutive but shorter sentence.
