The UK government is planning a review of prison sentencing, led by former Conservative Justice Secretary David Gauke, to tackle prison overcrowding and on Tuesday, the 22nd of October, a further 1 100 prisoners will be released early, on top of the 1 700 offenders released in September, to free up space in prisons in England and Wales, with most of those released on Tuesday coming from open prisons, reports the British broadcaster BBC.
The scheme, which was launched in September, aims to free up 5 500 prison places.
People convicted of murder, sex offences or terrorism are not eligible for early release, but those serving sentences of more than five years are eligible.
Former justice minister Gauke told the BBC that the governments had been quick to impose new and longer sentences, but slow to increase prison capacity. He said the prison population was “growing faster than we can build prisons”.
The review of sentencing is not really aimed at solving the current crisis, but at preventing its recurrence.
Among the ideas being considered supposedly are the abolition of short prison sentences and better rehabilitation for prisoners serving longer sentences.
It will also explore the possibility of creating a “prison outside prison” using house arrest, monitored by modern surveillance technology. In addition, officials are considering introducing smartwatch-like devices used in the US that send warning messages to encourage offenders to comply with a prescribed rehabilitation programme.
The results of the review are expected to be presented to the government by spring 2025.
Justice Minister Shabana Mahmood has called it an opportunity to “reshape and redesign what punishment looks like outside prison”, but “there is always a cell waiting for dangerous offenders”.
Labour introduced an early release scheme originally drawn up by the previous government, which now allows prisoners to be released after 40% of their sentence has been served, instead of 50% as in the original version.
In September, 1 700 offenders were released under the scheme, bringing the total number of prisoners down to 86 333, when prisons were almost full and there were reportedly only 80 places available.
There are currently 87 465 people in UK prisons and 1 671 places available.
However, the British Government made serious mistakes in the initial phase of the release scheme, mistakenly releasing 37 prisoners whose sentences were not properly recorded, although all have reportedly returned to custody. In addition, some offenders who should have been fitted with an electronic monitoring device were released without it.
Critics have previously raised concerns about the impact of the scheme on public safety, with the probation union warning that it amounts to “moving the problem from one place to another without properly assessing the risks”.