Abuse Survivors Say They Feel Unsafe as Early Releases Begin
About 700 offenders were released in England and Wales on Thursday, the first of ten tranches that will free some 4,500 prisoners by June. Those let out first were serving up to nineteen months, and affected prisoners now serve a third of their sentence rather than half. One woman who was strangled by her former partner said he could be free within weeks, after less than twelve months inside.
The woman, who spoke anonymously, described a two-year relationship in which the violence was “horrible” but the worst part was “the fear of the fear”, and said she finally acted when it came to strangulation because she knew that otherwise “I’d be dead or someone would be”. Prison, she said, had given her “that breathing space to repair what he’s done to me”, and releasing him early was “almost like they’ve given the bully the ability to laugh in my face”. She said she felt completely let down by the system, and that part of her almost hoped he would come back, because it would prove the decision wrong. The government says those released are “monitored under the toughest supervision in British history”. The scheme exists for the same reason the courts are jammed: there is no room. The most serious offenders, those on fixed sentences of more than twelve years, leave in later waves, and the tenth and final tranche is scheduled for June. Andy Burnham intervened last month to tighten eligibility after an urgent review. The practical arithmetic for a reader is that an eighteen-month sentence now means about six months served rather than nine. Watch the second tranche, and whether ministers can say how many of those freed are actually tagged.