Prisons are in a ‘shocking’ state, Sir Keir Starmer said last night as the Labour government prepares to start letting thousands of inmates out early to ease overcrowding.
The Prime Minister revealed the situation in jails across England and Wales is ‘worse than I thought’ and branded Conservative ministers ‘reckless’ for not tackling the crisis when they were in power.
He confirmed that his new administration will within days introduce drastic measures to reduce the pressure – but insisted that the risk of dangerous criminals being let loose will be addressed.
It is understood that those convicted of sex crimes and serious violence will not be eligible for early release.
Asked by reporters about the state of Britain’s public finances as he travelled to the Nato summit in Washington DC, Sir Keir said: ‘Some of what we’ve found is shocking, not so much about the finances, but I have to say on prisons. The situation is worse than I thought it was.
Sir Keir Starmer revealed the situation in jails across England and Wales is ‘worse than I thought’ and branded Conservative ministers ‘reckless’ for not tackling the crisis when they were in power
Sir Keir confirmed that his new administration will within days introduce drastic measures to reduce the pressure – but insisted that the risk of dangerous criminals being let loose will be addressed (stock image)
‘I’m pretty shocked that it’s been allowed to get into that situation. It’s reckless to allow them to get into that place. We’ll be saying more about that in short order.’
And pressed on whether he could guarantee that high-risk prisoners would not be set free early – as he had asked of his predecessor Rishi Sunak before the election – Sir Keir replied: ‘We will make a statement in relation to this in the coming days.
‘We’re going to have to set out the state of affairs; what we intend to do about it, but it will include this question for risk categories.’ He insisted: ‘You know from my question to Mr Sunak, when he was Prime Minister, where I stand on this.’
In Prime Minister’s Questions in May, Sir Keir had cited a prisons watchdog report about an inmate who posed a danger to children having his release date brought forward.
Before the election Tory ministers agreed for low-level offenders to be freed up to 70 days early to reduce pressure on the prison population, which currently stands at 87,453.
But amid warnings that there are now only 700 spare spaces in adult male jails, new Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood will be forced to introduce a more radical policy by the end of the week.
But amid warnings that there are now only 700 spare spaces in adult male jails, new Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood (pictured) will be forced to introduce a more radical policy by the end of the week
It is expected to mean that criminals given standard determinate sentences of less than four years are released after serving 40 per cent of their terms rather than at the usual halfway point (stock image)
It is expected to mean that criminals given standard determinate sentences of less than four years are released after serving 40 per cent of their terms rather than at the usual halfway point.
Sources told the Mail that it will benefit ‘low thousands’ of inmates over the next few months.
Victims groups want sex offenders, domestic abusers and violent criminals excluded from the ‘get out of jail free’ plan.
But some in the prison service have argued against exclusions on the grounds that a blanket early release policy would be easier for governors to administer.
Last night the Prison Governors Association said: ‘Urgent action is needed to avoid prison spaces running out.
‘There is no other option open to Government than to release prisoners at the 40 per cent mark (save certain exceptions).
‘This is not a failure of this government, doing nothing would be both reckless and put the public at risk.’
