Ministers have been warned that without a major overhaul of the way prisoners are recalled to jail, the impact of early release will be cancelled out. Analysis shows just one in five recalled inmates were returned to prison because they had committed more crimes, and the number of cases has soared by 136% in a decade.
Recall figures spark calls for new approach
Social justice charity Nacro has called for the government to overhaul the prison recall system after figures revealed recalls had rocketed by 136% in a decade. Ministry of Justice (MOJ) figures show there are currently 9,900 people in prison on recall who are not facing further charges. Instead they were ordered back to prison for infringements including missing probation appointments and not residing at the address they were supposed to.
Last year there were 51,000 recalls to custody - more than the 47,000 who were newly-jailed after being sentenced. Nacro argues that a shake-up of the recall system could free up 5,000 beds a month.
Government urged to break revolving door
Enver Solomon, Nacro's chief executive, said: "The power to recall someone to prison plays an important role in protecting the public, but the current scale of recalls is neither sustainable nor effective. Addressing the scale of recalls must be a central part of the government’s response to the prison capacity crisis. Without this, prison places freed up through earlier releases will simply be filled up again by people recalled to prison. The government needs to break the revolving door of custody by addressing the reasons people are recalled and ensuring on release that people have the housing and support they need to rebuild their lives."
Nacro has called on the government to invest into community support to help released prisoners integrate back into everyday life. It should use recall as a last resort, the report states.
Early release scheme and PC Harper case
The government introduced the early release scheme in order to prevent prisons running out of space after years of Tory failure. Around 5,000 prisoners are expected to be released after serving between a third and a half of their sentence from September. Next week Justice Secretary Alex Norris is expected to unveil proposals to prevent two of PC Andrew Harper's killers being freed as part of the controversial early release scheme.
Andy Burnham and Mr Norris announced that criminals convicted of rape, grooming, and serious child sexual offences would be excluded. But they faced an outcry for not creating a carve-out for manslaughter cases - meaning two of the three men convicted of PC Harper's killing, Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole, could still be released next year. Mr Burnham has ordered the Justice Secretary to find a way of preventing the duo's release, and earlier this month said he is confident Bowers and Cole will not be freed. Mr Norris is expected to address Parliament when it returns from summer recess next week.
Responding to the report, an MOJ spokesman said: "Less than 1 in 7 offenders in custody are on recall, and it is a vital tool to keep the public safe. The numbers of recalls and first-time releases also can’t be compared as the same prisoner can be counted more than once. This government inherited prisons in crisis but we are fixing this, reforming the length of time people spend on recall to reduce the prison population, building 14,000 new places, launching the biggest ever expansion of tagging, and giving victims a say in the strict licence conditions of offenders."
