Watchdog Warns Early-Release Scheme Risks Serious Reoffending
The chief inspector of probation warned that the government’s emergency early-release scheme risks freed prisoners committing more serious and violent crimes, intensifying scrutiny of the policy. The intervention follows pressure from police chiefs over the release of those jailed for the death of PC Andrew Harper. Ministers insist the scheme is needed to relieve dangerously overcrowded jails.
The warning from the independent watchdog carries particular weight, coming from the body charged with overseeing how offenders are managed after release, and it sharpens a row that has run all week over the emergency scheme now emptying prison places. Supervising a larger number of freed offenders with stretched probation resources, the inspector cautioned, raises the danger of serious reoffending slipping through the net. The government is caught between a prison system so full it has resorted to early release and a public alarmed at the prospect of dangerous criminals walking free, as in the Harper case. Opposition figures accuse ministers of shifting position by the day. Watch whether the scheme is amended or fresh safeguards are added.