Only 79 inmates released early despite outbreak fears

FEWER than 80 prisoners have been released early to help fight the spread of coronavirus, despite government claims they would have to free up to 4,000, watchdogs have revealed.

They blamed the “complexity” of the scheme and “risk aversion” by the Ministry of Justice for just 79 of the 4,000 “low level” offenders being freed early, as well as only 22 of 70 pregnant women and mothers and babies, and seven of the 1,500 vulnerable inmates also offered the prospect of release.

“Eligibility criteria and the convoluted process of early release are mired in complexity and risk aversion,” said the report by the Independent Advisory Panel on Deaths in Custody.

“The schemes are hard to understand, difficult to explain and close to impossible to deliver, even for a disciplined service like the prison service.”

Juliet Lyon, who chairs the panel, said the prisons had successfully avoided a major outbreak of coronavirus by quarantining new arrivals for 14 days, shielding the most vulnerable and isolating those with symptoms. They had been helped by a fall of 3,000 in prison numbers as courts closed down, so reducing overcrowding.

But she said the numbers being sent to jail would increase as the courts returned after lockdown, and that would raise the risk of a coronavirus outbreak as overcrowding worsened. Half of the jails had not been able to fully introduce the quarantine and isolation measures, Ms Lyon said.

However, she warned that the lockdown in prisons had had a “significant impact on people’s mental health” with many confined to their cells for more than 23 hours a day.

“It’s a prison within a prison. It’s an exceptional form of imprisonment, and not a form we have practised widely in this country, and not one that could or should be sustained over

‘It’s a prison within a prison. It’s an exceptional form of imprisonment ... not one that should be sustained’

time,” said Ms Lyon.

Her comments are contained in a unique report that chronicles the coronavirus crisis in prisons through 400 recorded messages by inmates to prison radio.

She reported, however, that from a predicted worst case of 2,500 deaths, 22 prisoners had died as well as nine prison officers.

A prison service spokesman said their “strong but necessary” measures had been designed to limit the spread of the virus and save lives. “We make no apologies for putting public safety first and ensuring all prisoners are subject to thorough assessments before they leave custody.”