Thousands of prisoners will be released up to a year before the end of their sentence in major plans announced yesterday.
Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the sentence discount available to offenders under the home detention curfew (HDC) scheme will double from the current six months.
This means prisoners will be able to secure release from jail 12 months early in exchange for wearing an electronic tag, which is used to enforce curfews.
Criminals who are released at the 40 per cent point of their sentence under the Government’s separate early release scheme, known as SDS40, will also shave an additional year off their time if they are also able to join the tagging scheme, the Ministry of Justice confirmed.
Some lower-level violent criminals and sex offenders who are excluded from SDS40 will be eligible.
Thousands of prisoners will be released up to a year before the end of their sentence in major plans announced yesterday. Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood (PICTURED) said the sentence discount available to offenders under the home detention curfew (HDC) scheme will double from the current six months
It comes amid warnings that jails could hit crisis point in less than a year. PICTURED: An electronic ankle tag on a teenage offender in the U.K.
Ms Mahmood, who is introducing the plans to ease overcrowding in prisons, said jails could hit crisis point in nine months.
And she told MPs yesterday: ‘The reoffending rate for the average prisoner is close to 50 per cent but for offenders released on a home detention curfew it is 23 per cent.’
But there are concerns over the number of offenders being recalled to jail after being freed under the SDS40 scheme.
Martin Jones, chief inspector of probation, warned plans to curb prison overcrowding would be undermined by a high level of recalls.
He said that in the first three months of this year – before the SDS40 scheme came into force – there were 13,289 releases and 7,415 recalls from a total of 65,000 offenders being supervised by probation officers.
Prisoners will be able to secure release from jail 12 months early in exchange for wearing an electronic tag, which is used to enforce curfews
Last month, around 1,750 prisoners are set to be released early on 10 September as part of a government release scheme to ease the overcrowding in the prisons of England and Wales
He added: ‘My assessment is there is a significant risk that the amount of space that has been created by the SDS40 changes will be reduced as a result of the high level of recalls that we have been seeing historically over a number of years.’
Ms Mahmood refused to reveal how many inmates freed under her programme have been sent back to jail but said figures would be published ‘in due course’.
In a separate move, the Justice Secretary said she will change the rules so that prisoners recalled to jail – for breaching the terms of their licence, for example – could be freed after serving just another two or three months.
Meanwhile the new sentencing review, led by former Tory justice secretary David Gauke, will look at the punishments for sex offenders following widespread anger over the soft treatment shown to internet paedophiles, including disgraced BBC newsreader Huw Edwards.
It is unclear if it would propose increasing jail terms for such crimes, but may suggest solutions such as intensive therapeutic courses to prevent reoffending.
