by Jacob Paul, LBC
The government’s plan to release prisoners poses a huge risk to public safety and threatens to undermine confidence in policing and criminal justice, police chiefs have warned.
Leading voices in the UK policing and security have raised the alarm over Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s plans to free thousands of prisoners early.
Inmates who have served as little as a third of their sentences could be released ahead of schedule if they behave well and take part in rehabilitation programmes, which could go up to 50% of their sentence if they do not behave well.
The move – aimed at easing the vast overcrowding in Britain’s jails – marks the biggest revival of the prison system in 30 years.
But the Ministry of Justice has now been sent a stark warning – with senior figures raising concerns that things could get “out of control”.
“We have to ensure that out of court does not mean out of justice, and that out of prison does not mean out of control,” a letter sent to the MoJ reads.
The letter, published by The Times, adds that the government needs to include an extra extra £300 million “control the additional offending population at large” in its next spending review on June 11, with fears the “necessary resources” may not be in place to cope with the impacts.
It says: “On the basis of what we understand at the moment, we are concerned that the proposals could be of net detriment to public safety and certainty to public confidence in policing and the criminal justice system.
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