United Kingdom (UK) government will in October, release about 5,500 prisoners in England and Wales to ease overcrowding.
Gatekeepers News reports that according to BBC; more than 1,700 detainees are expected to be freed at first, with subsequent releases in September and October.
Data from UK Ministry of Justice shows that there are a total of 88,521 prisoners in England and Wales as of September 6.
The “usable operational capacity” — total number of people a prison can hold, taking into account issues such as control and security — was 89,619, therefore the spare capacity is 1,098 places.
Thus, it surpasses the prison service’s measure of a “good, decent standard of accommodation”, which was 79,856 as of the end of July.
UK secretary of state for business and trade, Jonathan Reynolds told Sky News that the emergency decision had to be made because the previous government could not manage the justice system.
He said, “Of all the scandals we inherited, I think the prison system, the justice system, is probably the worst of all.”
Also, Chief Inspector of Probation, Martin Jones told BBC radio that the pressure on prisons was “extreme”.
He said, “It’s the highest population we’ve ever seen in this country. Prisons are absolutely close to 100 percent capacity”.
The scheme will make prisoners who have served 40 percent of their fixed term sentence, rather than the usual 50 percent, to be automatically released.
Those in jail for serious violent offences with sentences of four years or more, and sex offenders, will however not be released.
Also excluded are those convicted of domestic abuse, and “connected crimes”, such as stalking and controlling or coercive behaviours.
Offenders serving life sentences will only be released after Parole Board has assessed whether they still pose a risk.
All convicts will be monitored through use of electronic tagging, curfew etc by the probation service when released.
