The new British government announced on Friday the early release of thousands of prisoners to ease overcrowding in prisons that are 99% occupied.
Just a week after taking power, Labour was forced to act due to the urgent situation in prisons, with the risk of no vacancies being available in the coming weeks.
As of the beginning of 2023, British prisons are 99% full.
As of July 8, there were only about 700 vacancies available for men, out of a total of 84,000.
“Our prisons are on the verge of collapse,” new Justice Minister Shabana Mahmoud declared as he announced the emergency action plan that includes the measure.
“If we do not act now, we risk the collapse of the criminal justice system and disruption of public order,” he said in comments made at HMP Five Wells in central England.
According to Chief Inspector of Prisons Charlie Taylor, the situation has reached an “absolute turning point”.
According to the government, there may be no places available in prison centres “within a few weeks”.
Among the announced measures, detainees who can opt for early release, under police control, after serving half of their sentence, will be able to benefit from this measure early, after completing 40% of their sentence.
Persons sentenced to more than 4 years in prison and those imprisoned for sexual offences are excluded from this provision.
The new measures will not come into effect until September.
New Prime Minister Keir Starmer has blamed previous Conservative governments for the situation.
“This is irresponsible behaviour on the part of the outgoing government,” he said from Washington, where he attended a NATO summit in recent days.
“We knew we were going to have a problem, but it's worse than we thought,” he added.
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