'Public at risk' from plan to release thousands from prison | Politics | News

Labour has been accused of rushing to release prisoners early before measures are taken to protect the public.

Angry probation officers claimed they had been given just four weeks to prepare for the release of the first prisoners next month, warning that the lack of preparation was putting the public at risk and could lead to “horrific” consequences.

Last night, a former interior minister described the hasty plan as “deeply irresponsible” and “dangerous”. Up to 5,500 prisoners – including violent offenders – are to be released early in order to reduce overcrowding in prisons.

Justice Minister Shabana Mahmood told probation officers they had eight weeks to develop plans to deal with offenders to ensure they were released safely into the outside world and did not pose a danger to the public.

However, the first group was not due to be released until 15 days later, but according to them, the information came four weeks too late and at a time when many officers were on vacation.

Tania Bassett, national officer of the National Association of Probation Officers, said: “There is a risk to the public and the Department of Justice knows that.”

Robert Jenrick, a former home secretary, criticised the early release programme as “deeply irresponsible and frankly dangerous”. He said the government should instead free up space in prisons by deporting foreign criminals currently incarcerated.

Justice Minister Shabana Mahmood has decided that up to 5,500 prisoners will be released in two waves on September 10 and October 22.

It was one of the first measures announced by the Labour government after the general election. The need to free up prison cells has become even more urgent following recent unrest that led to hundreds of court appearances.

Prisons Minister Edward Timpson announced last month that probation officers would have eight weeks to prepare.

He said: “Probation officers will have the time they need to assess the risk of each individual offender and develop a plan to place them safely into society.”

However, NAPO points out that in practice, probation officers are only given four weeks to prepare for their release.

Ms Bassett said: “It has taken a long time to get all the data in and to determine who is eligible, so most of our members will not have started working on this until August 12.

“And this happens during the peak holiday season. We know that some of our offices are only employing 50 percent of their workforce due to the annual holiday in late July and August.”

This means that precautions may not yet be in place to ensure that released criminals do not pose a danger to others. In addition, Ms Bassett said parole officers fear for the safety of the public.

“They will openly say, 'I have a number of cases coming out in September, and I don't think all of them should come out.'

“When you know someone is coming out and you think, 'I don't think they're ready' and 'I don't think I can take the necessary precautions to make it as robust as it should be,' that's a whole other level of stress when you're worried about what could go wrong.”

She warned: “People really suffer from burnout and when you have so much work, mistakes happen and things get overlooked. The consequences when something goes wrong can be terrible.”

The probation service is already suffering from a “chronic workload and staffing crisis”, which makes it difficult to carry out important tasks such as developing risk management plans, she said.

Mr Jenrick, a candidate for the Conservative leadership, said: “Nobody is saying the situation is clear-cut. But it is deeply irresponsible and frankly dangerous for Labour to release serious criminals and put the public at serious risk before all possible alternatives have been exhausted.

“The government's first duty is to protect the British people. Sir Keir should do everything in his power to create space by removing foreign offenders from our prisons and accelerating the creation of additional capacity.”

There are currently 87,496 people in custody, which corresponds to a prison capacity of over 98 percent. Among them are 10,435 people with foreign nationality.

Under the early release program, some criminals who would normally have to serve half their sentence in prison are released on parole after serving only 40 percent of their sentence. People convicted of sex offenses, terrorist offenses or serious violent crimes are not eligible.

A total of 5,500 prison cells will be released and an impact assessment commissioned by the Ministry of Justice sets out the need for action.

The newspaper warned: “Without sufficient prison capacity, there is a growing risk that police will be unable to make arrests or enforce court sentences.”

“There is also the risk of prison riots and security risks, meaning lives are at risk and there is further loss of capacity in prisons.”

The riots have made the need to tackle prison overcrowding even more urgent. More than 460 defendants accused of offences related to the riots have had their first hearing in a magistrates' court and 99 people have been convicted, including 69 who were sentenced to a term of imprisonment in a crown court, while 153 have been committed for trial in the crown court.

The crisis is so acute that ministers announced last week that some court hearings in the north of England, where most of the unrest took place, could be postponed. The suspected perpetrators would be held in police cells until space became available in prisons.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said: “The new government has inherited a prison system that is in crisis. This puts pressure on the entire justice system and in particular on probation officers.”

“This has forced the government to take difficult but necessary measures to continue to lock up dangerous criminals and protect the public.

“The new Lord Chancellor announced in July that she would abolish the old early release system introduced by the previous government and replace it with a system that gives the parole officer more time to prepare for a prisoner's release.

“The Government has also put forward plans to recruit over 1,000 new trainee probation officers by March 2025 to meet the additional demand.”