Andy Burnham has paused the early release scheme initiated under his Labour predecessor but still faces pressure to act on prison overcrowding. Photograph: Jack Taylor/PA View image in fullscreen Andy Burnham has paused the early release scheme initiated under his Labour predecessor but still faces pressure to act on prison overcrowding. Photograph: Jack Taylor/PA Prisons and probation Burnham to focus on keeping child rapists in prison as release scheme talks enter final day Review goes down to the wire after ministers speak with victims’ representatives and support services
Prefer the Guardian on Google Andy Burnham is focused on preventing the release of child sexual abuse perpetrators as part of the government’s early release scheme, as urgent talks on which serious criminals could be exempted go down to the wire.
Government ministers are understood to have 24 hours to assess which criminals can be released early to free up prison space, with every exemption weighed up against the threat of the criminal justice system’s collapse.
The prime minister halted controversial plans to release thousands of killers, rapists and sex offenders from prison in September, intended to ease critical prison overcrowding, during his second week in the role.
He is keen to make as many exceptions as the small headroom in the prison estate will allow, the Guardian understands.
Burnham wants to keep child rapists and other perpetrators of serious sexual abuse from being released early after ministers heard the concerns of victims’ representatives and support services who warned that a failure to put in place safeguards for abuse victims would put them at particular risk .
A review of the scheme is expected to conclude by the end of Monday to give the Prison Service time to prepare, with a final decision on exemptions still to be made.
But ministers are keenly aware that if no action is taken, prisons will run out of space, while exempting some criminals is likely to lead to further calls for others to also be kept behind bars, sources told the Guardian.
The former justice secretary David Lammy, who brought forward the act that paved the way for the releases, previously warned that failing to implement it could leave no capacity across jails in England and Wales in November.
The new justice secretary, appointed by Burnham on 20 July, is Alex Norris.
The early release scheme – accompanied by a significant expansion in electronic tagging of offenders – is still expected to take place this autumn with an initial group of about 700, despite warnings by probation officers of potential chaos .
It is likely to cause a headache for the new prime minister as he faces the Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, in the House of Commons for the first time. A government source said: “If we don’t take any action, we will run out of room – it’s not sustainable at all.”
It comes after the family of PC Andrew Harper expressed outrage that his killers may be eligible for early release. His mother, Debbie Adlam, said the proposed inclusion of two of her son’s killers – Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers – was “another letdown” for their family.
View image in fullscreen PC Andrew Harper sustained fatal injuries while responding to a reported burglary in Sulhamstead, Berkshire, in August 2019. Photograph: Thames Valley police/PA New sentencing laws were passed under Keir Starmer’s government to ease a looming prison overcrowding crisis that ministers said could seize up t…