Andy Burnham's review into the prisons early release scheme will be conducted in the 'coming days and weeks' and decisions need to be made 'very quickly', a Labour minister has said.
Background on the scheme
Under the new Sentencing Act set to come into force in September, some 6,000 criminals were due to be released under the early prison release scheme. The Prime Minister on Thursday paused the plans and ordered an urgent review after the family of Pc Andrew Harper criticised the fact that two of his killers were being considered for early release.
Minister's comments
Sally Jameson, a junior housing minister and former prison officer, gave an idea of a timeline for Mr Burnham's review as she spoke to broadcasters on Friday morning. She told Sky News: 'I think the justice ministers have said that the urgent review will be conducted in the coming days and weeks to make sure that we have a timely response to that, so that the prison system and the criminal justice system can react and cope accordingly.'
She added: 'So I think it's right that the feelings of victims and public safety are taken into account, but also that we need to make these decisions very quickly because we cannot find ourselves in the position that we found ourselves when Labour first came into office just two years ago, where the prisons had been left on the brink of collapse, and we had less than 100 bed spaces left in the adult male estate.'
She said it was 'absolutely important that this review is conducted urgently'. Asked if early release could be scrapped altogether, she said: 'That's not a decision for me to make.'
Details of the Sentencing Act changes
Under changes in the Sentencing Act, some offenders were set to be let out of prison after serving a third of their sentence, rather than half, in a bid to ease prison overcrowding. Some more serious offenders would have been eligible for release after serving half their sentence, rather than two-thirds.
Impact on Pc Harper's killers
Early release could have benefitted Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers, two of Pc Harper's killers. The police officer was 28 years old when he sustained fatal injuries while responding to a quad bike theft in Sulhamstead, Berkshire, in August 2019. The driver of the vehicle that caused Pc Harper's death, Henry Long, received a 16-year sentence, and would not have been eligible for the scheme. But Cole and Bowers, who were passengers in the car and handed 13 years in custody for manslaughter after a trial at the Old Bailey in 2020, could have become eligible for release after serving half of their sentences.
Family reactions
Lissie Harper, Pc Harper's widow, described the scheme as 'deplorable'. Pc Harper's mother Debbie Adlam said her son's killers should 'serve the sentence they were given'. 'They were given that for a reason,' she told ITV. She welcomed Mr Burnham's move to pause early prison releases, but said he needed to make permanent changes to the scheme. 'It's a definite step in the right direction. It shows that we're actually being heard, which I think is really important. But obviously, we need to see it followed up with the right actions. Changes need to be made.' Ms Adlam urged the Prime Minister to 'put yourself in my shoes'. 'It would be something you can't understand unless you're in this position,' she said.
Challenge for Burnham
Deciding what to do about the early release scheme poses an early challenge for Mr Burnham, with the prison system currently at 97% of its operational capacity.
