Prisoner early release plan criticised

Home Office plans to release prisoners early under an electronic tagging scheme have sparked controversy.

Under the plans, criminals sentenced to four years in prisons could be released after 18 months, while a two-year sentence would involve just six months in jail.

Prisoners would be released under a curfew and electronic tag, in addition to the automatic release halfway through all sentences of less than four years.

The plans have been criticised by both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats, although the Prison Reform Trust and Prison Governors Association welcomed the plans.

A Home Office spokesperson said that the proposal was one of several options being considered to tackle the problem of prison over-crowding in the UK. The spokesperson said that the Home Office was “monitoring the situation closely” and stressed that no decisions had yet been taken.

It is understood that around half of the 70,000 prisoners sentenced each year to less than four years in jail for offences such as burglary, fraud and theft could be eligible for the scheme. Sex and violent offenders would not be eligible. Currently, it is estimated that 90% of those released with electronic tags do not re-offend.

The announcement of the plans follows the revelation that jails in England and Wales are almost full to capacity. The prison population has now risen to a record figure of 77,599.

‘The Times’ reported that the crisis is now so serious that 174 prisoners had to be held in police cells, because there were no spaces in prisons in London and the West Midlands.

Charles Bushell, General Secretary of the Prison Governors Association said that the extension of electronic tagging would help ease the crisis, at least initially.

Juliet Lyon, Director of the Prison Reform Trust, also agreed that a tagging extension could help ease overcrowding, but stressed that proper supervision was needed. Ms Lyon said: “The solution to this crisis and many others lie outside prison walls in drug treatment, mental health care, cutting unnecessary remands and recalls to jail and community service for offenders.”

However, Shadow Home Secretary David Davis told the BBC that prisons overcrowding was a “result of bad planning” and said that the only solution was to build more prisons.

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesperson Mark Oaten said: “After eight years in government, Labour’s prison policy is in tatters. It began with tough sounding measures and locking more people up, but now the prisons are full, they are going to release people early.

“It is a total mess. The length of sentences should be set to punish and rehabilitate, not as panic measure when prisons become overcrowded.”

(KMcA/SP)