Lord Chancellor outlines urgent measures to tackle prison overcrowding

The Government has announced that the Ministry of Justice will temporarily reduce the proportion of certain custodial sentences served in prison from 50 per cent to 40 per cent.

“The justice system faces immense pressure, demanding difficult choices. Yet, victim safety must never be compromised,” she said.

Sentences for serious violent offences of four years or more, as well as sex offences will be automatically excluded from the early release policy, and, in a new development, the early release of offenders in prison for domestic abuse connected crimes will also be excluded. Other measures include ending the End of Custody Supervised Licence scheme

This exemption will include:

• Stalking offences;
• Controlling or coercive behaviors in an intimate or family relationship;
• Non-fatal strangulation and suffocation; and
• Breach of Restraining Order, Non-Molestation Order, and Domestic Abuse Protection Order.

The new rules, which will come into force in September, will also not apply to most serious offenders, who already either spend two-thirds of their sentence behind bars or have their release determined by the Parole Board.

Those released early will be supervised by the probation service.

In addition, an announcement was made to recruit more than 1,000 additional trainee probation officers by March 2025.

Baroness Newlove greeted these changes as a “welcome and necessary step”, adding that they reflected “the concerns of victims and those who advocate for them”.

The Victims’ Commissioner stressed the need for clear communications with victims and transparency on decision-making with to build trust and reassure victims.

“Rigorous oversight is crucial to ensure this new regime effectively prioritises victim safety while putting our justice system on a more sustainable footing,” she said.

Andrew Neilson, director of Campaigns at the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: “This is absolutely the right decision by the Lord Chancellor and the only way to buy a new government time to think more deeply and seriously about the use of prison and the functioning of the wider criminal justice system. We also welcome a commitment to investment in the probation service, which is the ultimate guarantor of public safety.

“This is not simply an emergency to do with capacity, although that is driving the immediate need for action. Our violent and overcrowded prisons are holding the country back by failing to tackle the underlying causes of crime. If anything, they make reoffending far more likely.

“The first step must be to stabilise the system. As the Howard League outlined in its own recommendations earlier this week, bringing forward the point of automatic early release for those on standard determinate sentences will both free up space and allow prisons and probation the chance to properly plan the resettlement of people in prison. The previous government’s early release scheme was chaotic and ultimately insufficient to address the capacity crisis behind bars.

“The Ministry of Justice will need to go further in due course, as the billions earmarked for building new prisons will still not be enough to stop an untenable surge in the population over the coming years. That means, as the Prime Minister said in his press conference last weekend, that we ‘do need to be clear about the way in which we use prisons’. We can also be clear that there is a better way.”

In a speech at HMP Five Wells in Northamptonshire, Lord Chancellor Shabana Mahmood said: “When prisons are full, violence rises – putting prison officers on the front line at risk. When no cells are available, suspects cannot be held in custody. This means vanloads of dangerous people circling the country, with nowhere to go.

“The police would have to use their cells as a prison overflow, keeping officers off the streets. Soon, the courts would grind to a halt, unable to hold trials.

“With officers unable to act, criminals could do whatever they want, without consequence. We could see looters running amok, smashing in windows, robbing shops and setting neighbourhoods alight.

“In short, if we fail to act now, we face the collapse of the criminal justice system. And a total breakdown of law and order.”

National Police Chiefs’ Council chair Chief Constable Gavin Stephens, said: “It is pleasing to see the new government has taken action on this pressing issue so quickly.

“We are supporting the Ministry of Justice and other partners in the criminal justice system to manage the impact of these changes, particularly around supporting victims, families and others who will be affected.”

Association of Police and Crime Commissioners chair, Donna Jones, said: “Police and crime commissioners (PCCs) welcome a working solution to the current crisis and recognise that this proposal comes hand in hand with a commitment to adhere to multi-agency public protection measures to ensure the safety of the public whilst bolstering probation services.

“PCCs will play a leading part in the Probation Task Force and, through the Criminal Justice Boards held in each area, will coordinate courts and police response to the issue.  Y

“Yesterday, in a meeting with the Home Secretary, PCCs raised the need to ensure that any foreign national offenders who are released early are deported as soon as possible and that the appeals process is reviewed to ensure any potential delays to deportation are removed to free up more spaces in detention centres.”

Revolving Doors’ chief executive Pavan Dhaliwal said: “Today’s emergency measures are necessary. The new Government has inherited a justice system with overcrowded prisons and an overwhelmed probation service that struggles to rehabilitate or provide people with the support they so desperately need because of wider systemic challenges.

“The Justice Secretary must now look beyond the immediate crisis to tackle issues at the source, prioritising diverting people with unmet health and social needs out of the criminal justice system, and long-term targeted support, including with post-release resettlement and rehabilitation.”