Hundreds of UK prisoners are being freed early to cut overcrowding in jails, as 1,700 prisoners are expected to be released on Tuesday from jails across England and Wales.
This was in addition to the 1,000 inmates normally freed each week.
According to Reuters, pictures showed groups of inmates walking out of Brixton, Durham and Liverpool jails saying around 400 prisoners are reportedly due to be freed from London prisons alone.
Downing Street said the policy had to be brought in to avoid “unchecked criminality” where the police and courts are unable to lock anyone up because there are no free cells.
Ministry of Justice (MoJ) figures showed the prison population hit a record high of 88,521 on Friday, having risen by more than 1,000 inmates over the past four weeks.
Chief Inspector of Prisons Charlie Taylor said the government “had no choice but to do something’’ about overcrowding because “the bath was in danger of overflowing, and they either had to turn the taps off or they had to let some water out.’’
He however warned it was “inevitable that some of these prisoners will get recalled to custody” and that some will be homeless on release increasing the risk that they could go on to commit more crimes.
“If people are coming out, they are not properly prepared, and they are homeless, then what we will see is the danger that they will commit more offences, or that they breach their bail conditions, in which case they will end up back inside again,’’ he said.
The move came after Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced plans in July to temporarily cut the proportion of sentences which inmates must serve behind bars from 50 per cent to 40 per cent as the MoJ said overcrowding had pushed jails to the “point of collapse.”
On Monday it emerged some victims were not prepared in the wake of their perpetrators being freed early.
The Victims’ Commissioner of England and Wales, Helen Newlove, branded it “regrettable” that some had still not been told this was happening on the eve of the policy coming into force.
Taylor’s comments came as he published his annual report, which suggested ministers will not be able to build enough prisons to fit all criminals set to be jailed in future unless they overhaul sentencing rules.
His report said: “with the number of prisoners projected to grow by as much as 27,000 by 2028, it is unlikely to be possible to build enough new accommodation.
“Alongside decisive short-term action, there is a pressing need for a much bigger conversation about who we are sending to prison, for how long and what we want prisoners to do while they are inside.’’
The report also detailed the “desperate” crisis of violence and drug use behind bars, as well as the lack of available rehabilitation that would keep people from reoffending.
Charities said the early release scheme would only “buy a little time” and would not provide a lasting solution in the face of “brutalising” conditions.
Andrea Coomber KC, chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said prisons and probation needed to be completely reset.
She described the situation as “woeful education and training” for inmates and “squalor, self-harm, drugs, violence and unmet mental health needs, all in severe overcrowding.”
Hundred more prisoners are due to be freed early next month in the second stage of the scheme.
The government is under pressure to find longer-term solutions to the problem, with prison figures warning without further measures the same problem could be faced in about a year.
Mahmood pledged the government will “tackle the crisis head-on.
“If we had not acted when we came into office, there was a real risk that the courts would have been forced to delay sending offenders to jail and police left unable to arrest dangerous criminals.
“This is a temporary measure, giving us time to set about long-term change in the prison system building the prisons we need and driving down reoffending.’’
