Prisoners walked free from jails across England and Wales on Thursday as the Government's expanded early release scheme began, with one man thanking Andy Burnham as he left HMP Durham.
Hundreds of prisoners were due to be released in the first wave of the controversial programme. The Press Association saw inmates leaving HMP Durham, HMP Birmingham, HMP Forest Bank in Salford, HMP Leeds, HMP Wandsworth, HMP Wormwood Scrubs in London, HMP Bristol and HMP Cardiff.
Reactions from released prisoners
One man said he was looking forward to eating a KFC, while another predicted he would be back in prison “in the next month or two”. A prisoner holding his belongings in a bin bag told the press as he left HMP Durham: “Justice system, what justice system? Thank you Andy Burnham.”
A man leaving HMP Cardiff, asked if he had a message for the Prime Minister, said: “Thank you very much and don’t get me back here again, bro.” James Ashford, 21, who was serving a 12-month sentence for carrying an offensive weapon, smiled and replied “Thanks mate, thanks” when asked the same question outside HMP Bristol.
Dean, a prisoner emerging from HMP Forest Bank, said he was “buzzing” to be out early despite having only another week or so to serve. He said: “There’s big people in there, they’ve got, like, years off. I’ve had to explain… people don’t even know who Andy Burnham was. I think he’s a really good prime minister. He’s getting things done. He doesn’t just give it all the talk. He gets things done.”
Some predict return to prison
Tom, 32, jailed for burglary and released from HMP Cardiff, admitted he would “probably be back in the next month or two”. He told reporters: “I think it’s s***, to be honest with you. I’d happily spend my time in there, I mean, I’ve been doing it for 17 years. I’ll probably be back in the next month or two. I got nothing better to do with myself, I’m homeless, so what else am I going to do? You can’t be homeless and sober at the same time.”
Matthew Johnson, 35, said he was “buzzing” to be freed from HMP Leeds. He said of the scheme: “It’s a good idea, to be fair. They need to free up some places anyway. The staff are overwhelmed anyway with what they’ve got to cope with at the minute. It’s hectic. It’s crowded. Cells for one person with two people in them.”
Jordan Laverack, 26, outside the same prison, said: “The plan for today, it’s to go to KFC and after that I’m not sure.” He added: “I think early release is good for myself. I can see why there’s a lot of attention behind it, because there might be people doing heinous crime who are getting released early. But for the average person, who’s missed probation like myself, I think it suits somebody like me.”
Government defends scheme
Some 5,000 prisoners are scheduled to be released in stages over the next year, down from 6,000, after ministers intervened to exempt rapists and the most serious child sex offenders. The plan aims to free up capacity in the overcrowded male prison estate, as figures show the number of people behind bars has jumped by more than 1,700 in the past three months. The prison population of England and Wales stood at 87,499 on Monday, according to weekly data published by the Ministry of Justice.
Ministers say the expanded early release scheme is needed to prevent the justice system from collapsing. Criminals jailed for a range of offences, including members of child grooming gangs convicted of indecent assault, will be excluded. Prisoners guilty of manslaughter will also be excluded, meaning the killers of Pc Andrew Harper, who died in the line of duty in 2019, will not be eligible.
The Government says offenders leaving prison from Thursday will be monitored under the toughest supervision in British history, with new powers to restrict their movements. New restriction zones will tightly control the movements of the highest-risk sexual and violent offenders, and a new presumption will see offenders electronically tagged and monitored when they leave prison. New technology rolling out this year will give probation near-live access to tagging data, and offenders can now be banned from pubs, clubs and public events. From next year, the Government is also launching random drug testing for thousands of offenders.
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, Alex Norris, said: “Today we are introducing the toughest ever range of tools to control prison leavers and better protect the public. We understand the anxiety victims face ahead of offenders release dates, but the greatest danger to victims would be prisons running out of cells for dangerous criminals which was the crisis this government inherited. Our plan will make sure this never happens again by building 14,000 prison places while subjecting offenders to the toughest ever controls – leaving them nowhere to hide and under no doubt that we are watching them.”
