Hundreds of prisoners are being freed early to cut overcrowding in jails as a watchdog warned it was “inevitable” some would reoffend and end up back behind bars.
Around 1,700 prisoners are expected to be released on Tuesday from jails across England and Wales, in addition to the around 1,000 inmates normally freed each week.
Pictures showed groups of inmates walking out of Brixton, Durham and Liverpool jails. Around 400 prisoners are reportedly due to be freed from London prisons alone.
Downing Street said the policy had to be brought in to avoid “unchecked criminality” where the police and courts are unable to lock anyone up because there are no free cells.
UK Ministry of Justice (MoJ) figures showed the prison population hit a record high of 88,521 on Friday, having risen by more than 1,000 inmates over the past four weeks.
Chief inspector of prisons Charlie Taylor said the UK government “had no choice but to do something” about overcrowding because “the bath was in danger of overflowing, and they either had to turn the taps off or they had to let some water out”.
But he warned it was “inevitable that some of these prisoners will get recalled to custody” and that some will be homeless on release – increasing the risk that they could go on to commit more crimes.
“If people are coming out, they’re not properly prepared, and they’re homeless, then what we’ll see is the danger that they’ll commit more offences, or that they breach their bail conditions, in which case they’ll end up back inside again,” he said.
The move comes after British justice secretary Shabana Mahmood announced plans in July to temporarily cut the proportion of sentences which inmates must serve behind bars from 50 per cent to 40 per cent as the MoJ said overcrowding had pushed jails to the “point of collapse”.
On Monday it emerged some victims were not prepared in the wake of their perpetrators being freed early.
The Victims’ Commissioner of England and Wales, Baroness Newlove, branded it “regrettable” that some had still not been told this was happening on the eve of the policy coming into force.
Mr Taylor’s comments came as he published his annual report, which suggested ministers will not be able to build enough prisons to fit all criminals set to be jailed in future unless they overhaul sentencing rules.
His report said: “With the number of prisoners projected to grow by as much as 27,000 by 2028, it is unlikely to be possible to build enough new accommodation.
“Alongside decisive short-term action, there is a pressing need for a much bigger conversation about who we are sending to prison, for how long and what we want prisoners to do while they are inside.”
The report also detailed the “desperate” crisis of violence and drug use behind bars, as well as the lack of available rehabilitation that would keep people from reoffending.
Charities said the early release scheme will only “buy a little time” and would not provide a lasting solution in the face of “brutalising” conditions.
Andrea Coomber KC, chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said prisons and probation needed to be completely reset after she described the “woeful education and training” for inmates and “squalor, self-harm, drugs, violence and unmet mental health needs, all in the midst of severe overcrowding”.
Hundreds more prisoners are due to be freed early next month in the second stage of the scheme. But the UK government is under pressure to find longer term solutions to the problem, with prison figures warning without further measures the same problem could be faced in about a year’s time.
Ms Mahmood pledged the government will “tackle the crisis head on”, adding: “If we had not acted when we came into office, there was a real risk that the courts would have been forced to delay sending offenders to jail and police left unable to arrest dangerous criminals.
“This is a temporary measure, giving us time to set about long-term change in the prison system – building the prisons we need and driving down reoffending.”
