Ministers Finalise Prisoner Early-Release Scheme
The government is finalising a scheme to release some prisoners early to ease dangerously overcrowded jails, with talks reported to be entering their final stage. Andy Burnham is said to want the most serious offenders, including child rapists, excluded from any early release. The plan reflects the acute pressure on a prison system running close to capacity.
England and Wales have among the highest incarceration rates in western Europe, and years of rising sentences with too few new places have left jails perilously full, forcing ministers into emergency measures. Early-release schemes are politically fraught, exposing governments to attack whenever a freed offender reoffends, which is why excluding the worst crimes matters to Mr Burnham. Prison reformers argue the deeper problem is a system that jails too many for too long, but building capacity takes years. The final shape of the scheme will be closely watched. Watch how many prisoners are affected and which offences are excluded.