The Prime Minister is proposing to jail men in female prisons in a bid to ease the overcrowding crisis. Andy Burnham said he is “increasingly confident” that plans to boost headroom in prisons will mean the number of offenders being released early, including two of PC Andrew Harper’s killers, can be reduced.
He said this will include “making greater use of the entire prison estate including using the female estate for male offenders”. But he stressed that some criminals will have to be let out of jail before serving their full sentences to prevent the “prison system collapsing”.
Three strands of further work
In a social media post, on Tuesday Mr Burnham said he has asked Justice Secretary Alex Norris to undertake three "strands of further work" to address concerns over the potential early release of PC Harper's killers.
“I understand the depth of public concern about the potential early release of those involved with the killing of PC Andrew Harper – and I share it,” he said. “I fully appreciate the anguish of Andrew’s family and, more broadly, of all those victims and their families who may see those who caused them such harm not serve their full sentence.
“It is incumbent on me as Prime Minister to do everything within my power to minimise that possibility. And I am determined to do so.
“I have spent recent days considering in depth all of the issues involved and the range of advice I have received. I have been pushing for further progress. I have not accepted that it is impossible to do more.
“As a result, I have asked the Justice Secretary to fast-track the development of a plan for presentation to Parliament early next month to create more headroom within the prison system.
“It will be based on a range of options including the three strands of further work I asked him to initiate last week: increasing the rate of removal of foreign national offenders from the prison estate to their country of origin; finding an early resolution to the long-running injustice of IPP sentences, which could allow for the release of lower-risk prisoners; and making greater use of the entire prison estate including using the female estate for male offenders.
“I am increasingly confident that a more focused approach along these lines will allow us to reduce the number of people released early and, in the case of the most serious offender.”
Exclusions and capacity pressures
Mr Burnham stressed that murderers and criminals convicted of the most serious sexual offences, including rapists, serious child sex offenders and grooming gang members, will not be considered for the early release scheme.
“I recognise that, even with all these changes, there will be concerns from many victims about who will still be released early for other offences,” he added. “I am doing all I can, but it is simply not possible to prevent all offenders from being released early without the prison system collapsing.”
Male prisons in England and Wales are critically overcrowded, operating at about 99 per cent capacity with fewer than 1,000 spare spaces. HMP Wandsworth in London is one of the most severely congested, consistently housing upwards of 1,400 to 1,500 men despite being designed capacity for about 960.
While women currently represent less than 5 per cent of the total prison population in Britain there are just 12 dedicated jails for female offenders and they also face severe capacity pressures.
