Around 650 criminals serving sentences of less than three years and two months are due to be released today under the third wave of the Labour government’s early release scheme for prisoners. They join the thousands already freed since the program began on October 1.
Zia Yusuf, Shadow Home Secretary for Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party, commented: “Every single prisoner released today is an indictment of successive Tory and Labour ministers. They failed to build more prison places whilst throwing the door open to millions of people to come to our country. Now the public is paying the price. 5,000 prisoners – many of whom are dangerous – will be free to walk our streets and terrify their victims without serving their sentences.”
The Scope of the Scheme.
Those eligible in this round include people convicted of affray, which carries a maximum sentence of three years, as well as burglary and fraud. Some criminals convicted of wounding, grievous bodily harm (GBH) with intent, or lower-end firearms offenses could also be freed.
Ministers have scheduled the staged release of 5,000 prisoners over the next year, reduced from an initial figure of 6,000 after rapists and the most serious child sex offenders were removed from the scheme. Under the policy, prisoners on fixed-term sentences generally serve one-third of their term in custody rather than half before being released under license conditions, unless their crime is excluded.
The exclusions cover rapists, the most serious pedophiles, those convicted of manslaughter, terrorists, and murderers serving life sentences. Prime Minister Andy Burnham added manslaughter to the exempt list after it emerged that the criminals responsible for the high-profile killing of Police Constable Andrew Harper, who was dragged to death behind a car, might otherwise have been eligible.
Despite the successive waves of releases, Ministry of Justice figures show the prison population of England and Wales stood at 86,982 on Monday, up from 86,883 the previous week.
