The justice secretary has announced that thousands of prisoners will be released early at the start of September. Shabana Mahmood warned that without urgent action to address prison overcrowding, there could be a “total collapse” of the prison system and a “total breakdown of law and order.” She criticized Rishi Sunak and the previous Conservative government for neglecting the crisis.
Under the new plan, some prisoners in England and Wales will be released after serving 40% of their sentence instead of the current 50%. Mahmood expects the initial release in September to be in the “low thousands,” with further releases over the next 18 months and quarterly updates to Parliament. The Ministry of Justice estimates that up to 4,000 extra male prisoners and fewer than 1,000 female prisoners will be released under these measures. Serious violent offenders and sex offenders, as well as those convicted of domestic abuse-related crimes, will be excluded from early release.
Speaking at HMP Five Wells in Northamptonshire, Mahmood highlighted that prisons have been operating at 99% capacity since last year and are weeks away from running out of space, which would lead to filling overflow police cells and leaving dangerous individuals with nowhere to go. This could result in a halt in court trials and criminals acting without consequences, leading to looting and disorder.
Despite the anticipated backlash, Mahmood emphasized that she had no choice but to implement the plan and blamed the previous government for the current crisis. Conservative Shadow Security Minister Tom Tugendhat criticized the idea of releasing 20,000 criminals onto the streets, though early release is not a new concept. Former justice secretary Alex Chalk had announced similar plans for early release earlier in the year, but they were not implemented before the general election.
The Ministry of Justice’s statistics show only 1,451 prison cell spaces available across England and Wales, with an increase of 1,161 inmates over the past year. The Vice President of the Prison Governors Association welcomed the announcement, citing the unprecedented crisis and long-standing warnings about overcrowding.
Conservative MP Greg Smith argued that building more prisons should be the focus and criticized Labour for their approach to sentencing legislation. The chief inspector of prisons, Charlie Taylor, acknowledged the risks but stated that a decision needed to be made, despite the increased workload on already stretched prison and probation services.
The aunt of murdered law graduate Zara Aleena criticized the plan as a “dangerous gamble with public safety,” highlighting issues with underfunding in the probation service, which led to inadequate supervision of offenders like her niece’s murderer.
The Ministry of Justice is building six new prisons to create 20,000 additional spaces, partially due to the government’s campaign to hire 20,000 more police officers. Approximately 6,000 spaces have been created so far, with 10,000 more expected by the end of 2025.
