Releasing prisoners early is a mistake

Some prisoners will be freed up to 70 days early to ease overcrowding in jails. This isn’t the first time the government has resorted to letting prisoners go before the end of their sentence: Alex Chalk, the Justice Secretary, announced in March that prisoners would be released up to 60 days early. This followed a 35-day early release policy announced in October. How long will ministers pretend that extending early release every couple of months is a serious solution to the dire state of Britain’s prisons?

Letting prisoners go early makes a mockery of the idea that sentencing should be transparent. Most people who are jailed in England and Wales receive a ‘standard determinate sentence’ under which they serve half the sentence in prison and half under the supervision of probation ‘on licence’ in the community. During this period on licence, further offending, or breaches of licence conditions can result in the person being recalled to prison.