For the second time in as many months, correctional authorities in the United Kingdom are releasing hundreds of prisoners early due to overcrowding in prisons, despite the inspector of prisons, Charlie Taylor, saying there is a “risk of some re-offending,” the BBC reported.
Over 1,700 convicts walked away from prisons in England and Wales on Tuesday, Sept. 11, as part of the government’s early release scheme intended to make room for more capacity.
The move was an “emergency decision,” Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said, while blaming the previous government for the issue.
Probation inspector Martin Jones said the system was under a “huge amount of pressure,” while the union for probation workers said some of those being released early were convicted of domestic violence and sexual offenses, something the Ministry of Justice denied.
In a sense, the convicts are not truly free, but are on a “release license,” meaning they can be recalled to prison if they break the license.
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“The license is a set of standard conditions, plus additional and specific optional extras, imposed by the governor with the input of probation officers who have assessed the offender,” the BBC reported.
Convicts are made aware of the conditions of their release a week prior to being freed and the conditions often include that the offender remain in touch with their probation officer, live at an approved address, and have a source of employment, assuming they can find work.
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Prisons over capacity
The Institute for Government think tank says the reason why prisons are so full is partly due to longer sentences being handed down to the convicted.
Over roughly the past decade, from 2012 to 2023, the average prison sentence for serious offenses has grown by more than 25 percent, the think tank says, and for some crimes, the increase has been far greater.
For robbery for example, sentences are 13 months more on average in 2023 than in 2012, a rise of around 36 percent.
Another reason is that those on remand — or those held in custody awaiting trial — has increased significantly since 2016.
In 2106 around 10,000 people were held in remand, a figure that ballooned to 16,458 in March this year, according to Ministry statistics..
Reynolds, Business Secretary, says the blame lies at the feet of the last Conservative government. He told the BBC that the previous government left “no capacity in the system whatsoever,” and that they had “no basic responsibility” in managing the prison population.
Ministry of Justice figures indicate that the prison population now stands at 88,521, a number that has increased by 1,159 since August 2, the week when the UK riots began.
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A third of prisoners will re-offend
According to Martin Jones, the chief Inspector of Probation, the early release scheme is putting a “huge amount of pressure” on the Probation Service.
According to the BBC he says that due to a lack of probation officers, the system is “significantly overstretched.” He said the lack of manpower is due to a number of reasons, including poor pay, structural issues, a lack of retention, and low morale.
He told the BBC that there is a “certainty” that some of those released will re-offend, specifically “around about a third.”
Particularly alarming are reports from the Napo General Secretary Lan Lawrence, who told the BBC that sexual offenders are among the ones being released, and who could reoffend.
“Members have shared examples where those with both domestic violence offenses and sexual offenses have been released because of this,” he said, adding that when their releases have been challenged, they were told that the decision cannot be challenged.
“Members are extremely disappointed that this has been denied during several media appearances by government ministers and we have been challenging this in our media engagement. We call on the government to correct the record,” he said.
The Ministry of Justice says those eligible to be released is based on the offense and not the offender and that “offenders may be released early from their sentence for a lesser offense when they have previously completed a sentence for a sexual or violent offense,” the BBC reported.
