Britain to release 6000 prisoners to ease jail crisis.
Thousands of prisoners in England and Wales are set to be released early under the UK government’s prison reform programme, with the first group expected to leave custody in September as ministers try to ease overcrowding in the prison system.The Ministry of Justice plans to release around 6,000 inmates in stages over the coming months. Prisoners serving sentences of less than 18 months are expected to be released first, with longer-term prisoners becoming eligible later under the timetable. Those serving sentences of more than 12 years could begin leaving prison from June next year if they meet the legal criteria, Daily Mail reported.The changes follow Labour’s Sentencing Act, which allows some violent and sexual offenders to be released after serving half of their sentence instead of the previous two-thirds. Other offenders may qualify for release after serving one-third of their sentence if they demonstrate good behaviour while in custody.The reforms do not apply to offenders serving mandatory life sentences for murder, who must continue to serve the minimum term set by the court before becoming eligible for parole.The plans have drawn criticism from opposition politicians and justice groups, who argue that victims could be distressed by offenders leaving prison earlier than expected. Shadow Justice Secretary Nick Timothy described the policy as “reckless” and said serious offenders “should remain behind bars where they belong,” as cited by the newspaper. Conservative justice spokesperson Dr Kieran Mullan also criticised the programme, saying: “Victims are going to feel like justice has been stolen from them by these plans. Seeing serious offenders walk out of prison years early will horrify most victims, and the public as well.”The government has defended the reforms, arguing they are necessary to prevent prisons from running out of space. A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said the previous administration had left the prison estate under severe pressure and that action was needed to avoid a wider breakdown of the criminal justice system.The ministry said it is expanding prison capacity by creating 14,000 additional places while investing £700 million in probation services, recruiting 1,300 more probation officers this year and increasing the use of electronic tagging for prisoners released into the community.
