Would You like a feature Interview?
All Interviews are 100% FREE of Charge
Government officials have accused Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak of exacerbating the crisis and putting people at unnecessary risk of rape, murder and other serious crimes that probation officers say.
Last month, when prison overcrowding forced ministers to bring forward the release of prisoners by 70 days, the Prime Minister said “no one deemed to pose a risk to public safety will be subject to the scheme.”
But Tania Bassett, national officer for probation union Napo, says that’s “not true”. I High-risk prisoners are being released, sometimes against the recommendations of their probation officers.
“Further serious crime is inevitable,” she said. “Certain violent and sexual crimes, such as murder, manslaughter and rape, are being committed by people who are on probation or who were recently on probation.”
A Ministry of Justice official said: I They expect the situation to “really get worse” during the election campaign because “there will be no functioning government making decisions about what to do.”
They say Downing Street is to blame for politically motivated delays in tackling the crisis for months.
Attorney General Alex Chalk in early October announced a “limited” plan to release some inmates for low-level offenses for up to 18 days to ease prison overcrowding, then extended that to 60 days in March and 70 days in May as the crisis worsened.
“Number 10 stuck his feet for as long as he could.”
But sources say Mr Chalk had been asking Mr Sunak to back his plan for early release for months before his release was ultimately approved, and they believe acting sooner could have made the situation less dangerous.
“It was so politically unpleasant that they [No 10] “We didn’t want to do that until other avenues had been considered,” the Justice Ministry official said. I.
“They could have done it all sooner but they knew it would have turned out really badly for them. They’re just dragging their feet for as long as they can.”
Now, amid widespread warnings that prisons are descending into “total chaos”, there are growing concerns over the implementation of the 70-day early release scheme and the “already stretched” capacity of probation officers to supervise a surge in offenders.
A missed opportunity to address the prison crisis
Proposals to scrap sentence reductions due to high recidivism rates were originally put forward by the then Justice Secretary David Gauke in 2019 but were scrapped by Boris Johnson, who sacked Gauke when he became prime minister.
Ministry of Justice officials say that since then, Mr Sunak’s government has missed at least three opportunities to address the issue.
*Ministers were urged to take action to ease the crisis in March last year, but authorities had to wait several months before introducing the first early release scheme in October.
* The idea of suspending short sentences was revived when the Sentencing Bill was introduced in November, but has since stalled. Sources say it was due to be considered in February but has been deprioritised by Downing Street.
*Then last month, the government decided not to save the bill for some final “cleanup” before the elections, a decision that government officials see as political.
A recent inspection of Lewes prison in Sussex found that even the 18-day scheme “undermined safe release planning and risk management” and protests against early release, although supported by prison managers, “were dismissed despite clear risk issues”.
The report revealed that high-risk prisoners with histories of domestic violence and stalking were being released early despite being “dangerous to children”.
The government has so far refused to disclose the numbers or characteristics of prisoners who would be released under the scheme, with Justice Minister Edward Alger telling MPs in March that figures would not be released until there was a “year’s worth of data”.
“The system is collapsing. It will have terrible effects on victims.”
Clare Waxman, London’s victims commissioner, said: I She was concerned about public safety and trust: “How can we continue to ask victims to come forward when the justice system isn’t working? None of the justice systems are working,” she said.
She expects “impacts” from early release measures because of the strain they place on the probation service.
“Further serious crimes against primary victims and the general public are a major concern,” she said, “but there is also the impact of victims expecting release in a few months time being told, with almost no notice, ‘They’re being released’. This will have a terrifying effect.”
Mr Waxman said he had already been warned about numerous cases where offenders had breached court orders or licensing measures but no action had been taken.
“The whole system is collapsing, and that’s the situation we’ve arrived at,” she said.
Civil servants have been submitting a formal letter to ministers from at least March 2023 warning that prison overcrowding requires urgent action and setting out policy options. I Official forecasts for 2021 accurately predict that operational capacity will be reached in the second half of 2023.
“No. 10 is ignoring this and hoping it will go away. This is the worst thing,” the official said. “It’s going to get worse over the next two to three months. It’s really bad.”
Serious crimes are “inevitable” under the early release system because probation cannot address them.
Tania Bassett, national officer for probation union Napo, said it was “inevitable” that released prisoners would commit more crimes because services were overwhelmed and demand had increased dramatically.
“Everyone’s talking about prison capacity because prisons only have a limited capacity, but the probation service is over capacity, understaffed and already maxed out,” she said. I.
“Remote management is not possible and the system itself is not working. Many members report that they do not receive 24 hours notice of their release because they do not receive any notification from the prison.”
Bassett said there was not enough time to prepare proper supervision and rehabilitation for offenders or safety plans for victims.
“We know that safety measures for victims of domestic violence are not being implemented in time,” she added.
“We know that a lot of people are being released into homelessness without mental health treatment, substance abuse treatment appointments, all of that stuff.
“They should have robust risk management plans in place when they are released from prison, but now they’re being kicked out of prison and left homeless with very little support.”
Insiders also believe that the looming general election and challenges from the right of the Conservative Party have made the Prime Minister and his team reluctant to openly back new laws to allow early releases and reduce the number of people sent to prison.
The sentencing bill would have forced courts to “suspend” prison sentences of less than a year in most cases, and instead place offenders on “probation,” aiming to reduce prison populations to safe levels without the need for early release.
The Bill was introduced in November but failed to get through the second stage of parliamentary debate. Sources say the Bill was due to be debated in February but was down-prioritised by No 10 and then scrapped altogether when the Prime Minister decided not to include it in his final “finishing up” list of legislation to pass after the general election.
Politics is “too difficult” and “no one wants to talk about prisons.”
“If there was a presumption against short sentences, it would basically solve a lot of problems,” a Justice Ministry official said.
“If the bill had passed earlier this year, things would have been very different and we wouldn’t have had to take 70 days of early release. We would have been better prepared.”
The official believes the government made a political decision not to salvage the sentencing bill during the “clean up” period, when other legislation was rapidly passed before Parliament was dissolved last week.
“We’re not going to make it an issue in any future campaigns because it’s too difficult,” they said. “Nobody wants to talk about prisons.”
Officials believe the 70-day early release system will only provide temporary relief to the prison overcrowding crisis, with Tom Wheatley, president of the Prison Governors Association, saying this week that prisons are already “close to total chaos”.
He told the BBC that the 70-day early release scheme had reduced prisoner numbers but he expected there would be excess capacity again within six weeks.
The government also implemented emergency measures to temporarily hold prisoners in police custody and to screen and control access to courts.
On May 14, the National Police Chiefs’ Council wrote to all police stations informing them that they should consider “suspending low-priority arrests and planned operations where mass arrests may be made in order to ease pressures within the criminal justice system.”
While the letter maintains that “public protection remains our top priority,” it raised new concerns about public safety.
The Ministry of Justice said people convicted of sexual, terrorist or serious violent crimes would be excluded from early release and prison authorities could block early release for those they considered at risk.
He said offenders would be placed on probation and subject to licence conditions which could include electronic tags, curfews and restricted areas.
The Conservative Party has been approached for comment.
Criminal justice system at ‘breaking point’
Official statistics show that only 6% of recorded crimes in England and Wales are prosecuted within a year, while court backlogs continue to grow.
More than 67,000 criminal cases are awaiting trial; I This figure represents an average increase of 470 people per month over the past year.
The resulting delays mean one in five prisoners (16,458) are awaiting trial or sentence, a record high.
“The criminal justice system is on the brink of structural collapse,” said Sam Townend KC, president of the Bar Association.
“The government’s criminal justice policy is now at a dead end. Increasing penalties and adding new crimes has placed increased demands on the justice system, but there is no provision for how to meet those additional demands.”
Mr Townend said there was a lack of capacity and resources across the system, from the police to the Crown Prosecution Service, legal advisers, prosecuting and defence barristers, judges and the prison and probation service.
“A huge backlog in the courts”
“The result has been huge backlogs in the courts and full prisons, which has resulted in some pretty extraordinary operational measures being taken.”
The government has blamed the backlog on a 2022 criminal lawyers’ strike over pay and the coronavirus pandemic, but Mr Townend said the ultimate cause was “demands that the government itself placed on the system” and pre-2020 budget cuts.
He called on the next government to fulfil a Conservative promise made in 2019 to set up a royal commission into the criminal justice system, adding: “This requires a level of seriousness and investment that has not been shown for over a decade. Hard choices will have to be made.”
Law Society chief justice Richard Miller said trial delays were being exacerbated by courts being closed at least 100 times each week for “urgent” repairs.
“We’ve had parts of the ceiling fall, we’ve had leaks, and the physical condition of the court is a physical and ongoing crisis,” Richard Miller said.
“Every part of the system is stretched to its limits. There aren’t enough lawyers to represent people at police stations, some cases don’t have judges or barristers, prisons are full and probation is overstretched and can’t cope with the people being released.”
Tana Adkin KC, president of the Criminal Lawyers Association, said the next administration would be faced with both “short-term issues and long-term plans that look at the bigger picture”.
“You can’t just snap your fingers and solve this problem,” she warned. “Criminal justice has been put on the back burner for too long.”