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4 months ago
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Claims that the prisons crisis could trigger a breakdown of law and order within weeks were blasted by the Tories as 'shameless scaremongering' last night.
Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood will on Friday unveil a series of measures granting early release to thousands of inmates – which she will say are necessary to avert 'unchecked criminality on our streets'.
Officials suggested criminals would run amok if the jails reached maximum capacity and were left unable to accept new prisoners.
But the Conservatives accused the Government of deploying scare tactics. A senior Tory source said: 'This is shameless scaremongering from the Labour Party that risks causing mass panic.
'Labour have come into government with hundreds of prison places available – but they've lost their nerve, and are now stoking public panic for political gain.'
The Conservatives accused Keir Starmer's Government of deploying scare tactics around prisoners
Officials suggested criminals would run amok if the jails reached maximum capacity and were left unable to accept new prisoners (stock image)
A graph showing the maximum capacity of prisoners in comparison to the prison population
Ahead of a speech by Ms Mahmood, a government spokesman said: 'The Justice Secretary will explain that if prisons were to run out of places, police cells would rapidly fill up, courts would be forced to delay cases and police unable to arrest dangerous criminals – putting the public at risk from unchecked criminality on our streets.'
One senior police source said a failure to free up prison cells risked moving into 'uncharted territory'.
It would leave frontline police almost powerless to act against criminals and thugs, it was suggested.
Government insiders said prisons – currently with just 700 spare places for adult males – could be completely full towards the end of next month.
'If nothing was done, I would be professionally very, very worried by the August bank holiday,' a senior prisons source said.
Once the jails are full, police station cells would be at capacity just days later – meaning police officers would effectively be unable to arrest criminals on the streets, it was suggested.
Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood will on Friday unveil a series of measures granting early release to thousands of inmates – which she will say are necessary to avert 'unchecked criminality on our streets'
One senior police source said a failure to free up prison cells risked moving into 'uncharted territory' (stock image)
A senior police source said the system would grind to a halt if newly remanded criminals could not be sent from the courts to prison.
'If those prisoners aren't collected, we very quickly will run out of space in police cells,' the source said.
'Many forces we estimated would run out of space in about three days or less.
'And clearly that is a situation that is completely intolerable, because you would get to the point where arresting officers wouldn't have anywhere to take people they're arresting.
'And, of course, that in itself may impact on behaviour of the public and particularly criminals.
'So that would be a very serious situation to get into and uncharted territory and we need to avoid that at all costs.'
It is understood that senior figures in the criminal justice system fear it could trigger looting, opportunistic crimes and brazen breaches of bail conditions by offenders living in the community.
Sir Keir Starmer said yesterday the jail crisis left him 'beyond frustrated' – and blamed the previous government for failing to act sooner.
Sir Keir Starmer said yesterday the jail crisis left him 'beyond frustrated' – and blamed the previous government for failing to act sooner (File photo)
Tory MP Neil O'Brien said: 'The idea that we would be safer if lots of criminals are let out of jail is absolute nonsense'
He confirmed thousands of inmates will have to be freed early, but said 'exemption categories' will mean high-risk prisoners are ineligible.
Describing the situation as 'shocking' and 'much worse than what I was expecting', the Prime Minister said: 'It is a basic function of government to make sure that we have the prison places we need for those people who have been sent to prison by our courts.
'For that to have broken down is a catastrophic failure of the last government.'
The Justice Secretary's announcements are expected to include allowing prisoners to be automatically freed after serving 40 per cent of their sentence, rather than the current 50 per cent.
Overall, 20,000 inmates could be released early in the next few months.
Former Conservative justice secretary Alex Chalk – who lost his seat last week – said Labour's reported plan 'will buy you 18 months, but it won't buy you any more'.
Asked if former PM Rishi Sunak had blocked similar measures, Mr Chalk refused to disclose private discussions but added: 'It is reasonable to say there were a variety of views about what could be got through Parliament.'
Tory MP Neil O'Brien said: 'The idea that we would be safer if lots of criminals are let out of jail is absolute nonsense.
'We already know the new prisons minister James Timpson thinks that only one third of prisoners should even be there.
'Both he and the Prime Minister are fundamentally anti-prison.'
So how on earth will this prevent a crime wave?
In the puzzle box of the criminal justice system, there are few easy solutions.
As senior government sources warn that our jails reaching capacity would result in a field day for criminals, and Labour prepares to free prisoners early to prevent it happening, one stark question presents itself.
Can a potential crime wave caused by a lack of prison space really be averted by releasing more criminals?
Much depends on how well it is managed. It takes up to six weeks to prepare an inmate for release, so they have somewhere to live and are properly supervised when they get out, for example.
If that process works, the offender stands a chance of staying on the straight and narrow.
But if done poorly – and note that the probation service is already under severe stress – there is a terrible risk of criminals going back to their old ways.
This scheme, therefore, has the potential to be disastrous.
Despite the Prime Minister yesterday expressing sudden shock over the state of Britain’s jails, anyone who’s been paying even vague attention knows the system has been in crisis for several years.
Under well-established rules, senior civil servants have been allowed to meet Labour front-benchers since January to brief them candidly on pressing matters of government. It is a system designed to allow a smooth transition of power in the event of a change of administration such as that we witnessed last week. Can we believe that the prison crisis never came up in conversation?
Crucially, releasing prisoners is not the only solution. There are three other ways the Government could tackle the crisis.
More than 10,000 of the country’s 87,000 prisoners are understood to be foreign national offenders.
Tory MP Neil O’Brien has written how the process of removing them to their home countries should be ramped up – with the threat of penalties against countries which fail to accept them back.
Second, Mr O’Brien noted how 10,000 inmates are remand prisoners who are awaiting trial. Magistrates’ courts could be tasked with helping to clear this group. Third, the rollout of ‘rapid deployment cells’ – portable buildings which can be placed within existing prisons – could be massively expanded.
All these options seem preferable to letting out convicted criminals before the end of their sentences.
Today’s announcement could be the most extensive early-release scheme ever seen – at least since the last time Labour was in power. In 2007, the then Labour justice secretary Jack Straw launched a programme which saw 80,000 criminals freed up to 18 days early.
At least three murders were committed by freed prisoners during the period they should have been behind bars, according to data gathered at the time by the Conservative opposition.
But those grim figures did not prevent the Tories introducing their own early-release scheme last October. The Conservative government refused to disclose how many inmates it let out – although we can expect the new Secretary of State to fill us in on that later today.
The cyclical nature of all this is obvious. A clear and thoughtful plan is needed. A ‘get out of jail free’ card will not help the criminal justice system, the victims of crime or even – in the long run – the criminals themselves.
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