Andy Burnham's early prison release scheme has been heavily criticized, with TalkTV's Philip Kiszely branding it a "slap in the face" for decency. The Labour scheme was paused in July after it emerged that the killers of PC Andrew Harper would be released early, sparking national outrage.
Government Response and Exclusions
The prime minister has now announced that prisoners convicted of rape, grooming, and serious child sex offences will be excluded from the scheme. However, prison overcrowding is preventing the same from applying to other criminals.
Author Philip Kiszely condemned the plan, arguing it forces victims' families to relive their trauma. Speaking to Kevin O'Sullivan, he raged: "There's no incentive here. This is just nonsense. This is, as his [PC Harper's] mum said, a slap in the face for decency."
Criticism of the Scheme
Kiszely continued: "This is just the fact that the system is going to collapse if they don't let all of these people out. What about all the foreign criminals that are in the system? Can we not just deport those and maybe start with that?"
He added: "It's about common sense. It's about common decency and it's about not forcing these poor people, the families of the victims, to revisit and relive the horror of this stuff day after day. It's condemning them to misery and it's just revolting!"
Background of PC Harper's Case
PC Harper died in 2019 after being caught in a strap attached to a car and dragged down a country road as three teenage suspects fled a burglary. His killers, Albert Bower and Jessie Cole, were sentenced to 13 years for manslaughter in 2020. At the time, they were pictured laughing in court.
His mother, Debbie Adlam, told BBC Breakfast: "Andrew deserves better than this and so do we. We are bitterly disappointed. I don't feel like we should be in this position. It's not somewhere we would expect to be. We really feel we should have more support than this."
