Refuge, a domestic abuse charity, has warned that Labour's plans to ease prison overcrowding must not allow high-risk offenders to be released early. The new government is expected to authorise emergency measures this week under which criminals could be automatically freed after serving 40% to 45% of their sentence. Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood has been told the move could prevent prisons in England and Wales from running out of space as early as next week.
However, concerns have been raised after early-release schemes under the previous government freed several people jailed for domestic abuse. Evidence uncovered in May by Charlie Taylor, the chief inspector of prisons, found that a high-risk inmate at HMP Lewes who posed a danger to children had his release date brought forward despite a history of stalking, domestic abuse, and being subject to a restraining order. Refuge said women must be reassured by ministers that the same mistakes would not be repeated.
A spokesperson for Refuge said: 'When considering options for the early release scheme, we need assurances from the government that those convicted of violence against women and girls (VAWG) offences will be exempt from this scheme and any further measures to tackle overcrowding.' Probation officers have told the Guardian that high-risk prisoners are being regularly let out without enough time for safeguarding checks.
Under current rules, prisoners serving standard determinate sentences are released at the halfway point and serve the remainder on licence, supervised by the probation service. Lowering the automatic release point could mean thousands of additional inmates being let out early, though Whitehall sources have played down claims that the figure could be as high as 40,000. Sexual, violent, and terror-related offenders are supposed to be excluded from the proposal, but domestic abusers could be allowed to walk away from jail with no notice given to their victims.
Ministers could also trigger Operation Early Dawn, a crisis measure that allows offenders to be housed in police cells when jails are full, while other measures can prompt magistrates courts to delay cases. The end-of-custody supervised licence scheme already allows prisoners to be released up to 70 days early. Nicole Jacobs, the independent domestic abuse commissioner for England and Wales, said this scheme had put women in danger.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said there was no 'quick fix' to solve overcrowding and suggested the government was 'extremely concerned' by the situation inherited from the Tories, describing it as a 'scorched-earth policy'. Meanwhile, the Scottish government has also published plans to release long-term prisoners after serving two-thirds of their sentence, returning to a policy from before February 2016.
