Shadow Justice Secretary Nick Timothy has accused the government of making "nonsense" claims regarding its early prisoner release scheme, as an additional 650 inmates were freed from jail. The new program, which began on October 1, allows certain prisoners to be released after serving as little as one-third of their sentences.
Timothy stated that reoffending rates are "off the charts" and criticized the government for failing to provide adequate details on the scheme's safeguards, particularly concerning electronic tagging. "We know a majority of prisoners are not being tagged before release, and we know reoffending is off the charts already," Timothy asserted in the House of Commons, demanding data on tagged versus untagged released prisoners and the number of early release breaches.
Justice minister Jake Richards responded that the government "will be setting out data in relation to prison releases, as we always do," with the next batch scheduled for January. He described the program as a "new sentencing regime" where data release is handled appropriately.
The latest wave of releases is part of a scheme expected to free up to 50,000 prisoners annually. Prisoners serving sentences of up to two and a half years, including those convicted of violent offenses and domestic abuse, are among those eligible. As the scheme expands monthly, individuals serving longer sentences will also become eligible.
Previously, prisoners due to serve 40 or 50 percent of their sentences are now being released after serving 33 percent. Those convicted of certain violent or sexual offenses, who were previously eligible for release at the two-thirds mark, will now be eligible at the halfway point.
Unlike Labour's previous early release program, which saw over 70,000 offenders released, the Ministry of Justice will not publish separate figures for the new scheme. These numbers will be integrated into existing statistics, making it difficult to ascertain the full scale of the program.
Timothy called this a "cover-up by Labour to hide the true scale of their latest disastrous early release scheme" and urged ministers to "come clean and explain why they refuse to publish this data."
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has announced plans to build 50,000 new prison places if her party wins the next general election, a move that would increase the prison estate by over 50 percent. Figures indicate that prisons in England and Wales are operating at nearly 98 percent capacity, with 87,033 inmates on Monday, leaving only 1,951 empty cells.
While overall figures on reoffending are not yet available, a senior Metropolitan Police officer reported that one offender released under the new scheme committed a series of new crimes with "astonishing" speed. Michael Bogle, 38, a prolific offender, was re-jailed after admitting 11 shoplifting offenses. He had previously been photographed leaving HMP Wandsworth on the first day of the release scheme.
Greater Manchester Police reported that eight men were arrested within days of their early release for offenses including robbery, domestic violence, and drug-related crimes. The Conservatives have repeatedly warned that the Prime Minister's program poses an "acute threat" to public safety.
As the Sentencing Act, which introduced these early release terms, was rolled out, the Ministry of Justice stated that it inherited a prison system "on the brink of collapse" and that the changes were necessary to prevent the police from halting arrests and to manage the overcrowded prison estate. The MoJ spokesman added that the Sentencing Act followed an independent review and parliamentary scrutiny.