Rishi Sunak was warned by senior civil servants a week before calling the general election that he risked breaching his legal responsibilities over the prison overcrowding crisis, according to a leaked Cabinet Office memo. The document, sent on 15 May, stated that failure to take urgent action would lead to a 'critical failure' of the criminal justice system in England and Wales.
The memo, seen by the Guardian, warned that the administration of justice would become 'untenable', preventing police and judiciary from exercising their legal duties. It added that all other options had been exhausted and that early release of prisoners was the only viable solution. The crisis was so severe that Cabinet Secretary Simon Case chaired emergency Cobra meetings on the issue.
New Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced emergency measures last week, including temporarily reducing the proportion of custodial sentences served from 50% to 40% from September. Jails have been operating at 99% capacity since early 2023. The previous justice secretary, Alex Chalk, had prepared similar plans but they were shelved due to fears of insufficient parliamentary support.
Chalk repeatedly warned Downing Street that early release was necessary to avert disaster, but was blocked by Sunak's aides concerned about opposition from Tory rebels. However, just two days before the election was called, Sunak agreed to meet Ministry of Justice demands to release thousands of inmates early. Chalk had written a personal letter to Sunak, described by officials as setting out 'the end game', and sources suggested he would have resigned if refused.
The leaked memo, a rare intervention by senior civil servants, was sent by Darren Tierney, the Cabinet Office's director of propriety and ethics. It stated that an urgent decision was required to ensure the continued functioning of the criminal justice system, and that inaction would lead to critical failure. Sunak's ally said he viewed early release as an 'absolute last resort' and wanted all other alternatives exhausted first.
