Public safety fears as jails free thousands more prisoners early

THOUSANDS more prisoners will be released early as part of a controversial drive to ease overcrowded jails.

The Ministry of Justice is aiming to reduce the pressure on violent and drug-ridden prisons by increasing the number of inmates in an early release scheme.

The move, which raises fears that the public could be put at risk, came after it was found tens of thousands of eligible offenders – including those serving sentences for violence, robbery and burglary – were missing out.

Governors have been told to review cases of prisoners refused release under the home detention curfew scheme, which allows them to go home with an electronic tag and curfew. In 2016, some 9,000 prisoners were freed under the scheme while more than 35,000 did not qualify.

But successive justice secretaries have expressed a desire to reduce the prison population, which currently stands at 86,700 – up from 44,246 in 1993.

Amid concerns that staff cannot cope with chronic overcrowding, jails have been hit by record levels of violence and selfharm, while drug problems have increased, fuelled by a surge in the use of so-called ‘zombie drug’ Spice.

At the same time, Whitehall figures show the number of prison officers is down by 8,000 – almost 20 per cent – since 2010.

One prison source said the latest initiative amounted to an emergency measure, adding: ‘ This is all about jails being full every single night. It is not conducive to stability for prisons to be in this state.’

The drive to release more prisoners early was introduced days before David Gauke took over as Justice Secretary from David Lidington last month.

Conservative MP Philip Hollobone said: ‘The public does not like prisoners being released early from their sentence.

‘The public wants criminals to serve the sentence in full in jail. The further we get away from that, the less sentences are a fitting punishment for the crime that has been committed.’

In 2014, 842 prisoners released under the

‘This is about prisons being full each night’

home detention curfew (HDC) scheme were recalled to jail for breaking their licence. The recent push by the Ministry of Justice comes after officials found only 21 per cent of eligible inmates were released under HDC.

Tony Blair’s government brought in the scheme in 1999 to deal with overcrowding. It means that prisoners serving between three months and four years are able to qualify for early release between two weeks and 120 days before the end of their sentence after being risk assessed.

They are tagged and a curfew requires them to be at home from 7pm to 7am.

A streamlined application process was introduced last month, halving the number of forms involved. Past processes were ‘overly bureaucratic’ and led to only a minority being released, the MOJ said.

It added that it wanted ‘release on HDC [to become] the norm for eligible offenders [and that] HDC is refused for eligible offenders by exception’.

The MOJ said the criteria had not changed but the process was being simplified so governors could make timely decisions.