The UK government’s plan to free up prison spaces for at least 18 months with next week’s launch of the early release scheme is doomed to fail because cells are being filled by rioters, the prison governors’ leader has said.
Tom Wheatley, the president of the Prison Governors’ Association, said the lord chancellor, Shabana Mahmood, “will be lucky to get 12 months before we are full again” after charges against hundreds of people for their role in the recent disorder.
Wheatley, whose organisation represents 95% of governors in England and Wales, has urged the government to urgently consider further measures to reduce the prison population or build new cells at pace if they are to avoid another overcrowding crisis next summer.
The plan to release offenders with standard determinate sentences after they have served 40% of their term – called the SDS40 scheme – was announced by Mahmood in July when she committed to reviewing it in 18 months’ time.
In a speech at HMP Five Wells in Wellingborough, Mahmood said: “I do not think that this 40% level should stand forever more. And that is why I am committing to reviewing this again, in 18 months’ time, when we believe the situation in our prisons will have stabilised.”
Wheatley said he had consulted with prison governors, who say Mahmood’s plan will not hold for 18 months.
“We don’t think that the measures are going to give the government 18 months because of the riots. That injection of extra people means that they are not going to get to 18 months. They will be lucky to get 12 months before we are full again,” he said.
Wheatley said the organisation’s members were deeply concerned by the plight of the probation service once the government frees 5,500 prisoners this month and in October under the scheme.
“We remain concerned about the effect of the large number of prisoners released on the probation caseload. Government is going to have to consider other changes to either reduce the prison population or properly fund HM Prison and Probation Service to enable them to deal with it,” he said.
Wheatley suggested finding new ways to reduce the burden on staff if the government is to escape further emergency measures next summer.
“There are options they could consider, for example, removing the requirement for post-sentence supervision, introduced by the Offender Rehabilitation Act,” he said.
The SDS40 scheme, which will free 5,500 prisoners over two months, will be launched on 10 September for those serving sentences of five years or less. A second tranche of prisoners will be released on 22 October for those who have served sentences of five years or more.
By last weekend, there were 1,280 arrests and 796 charges after this summer’s violent disorder, and police say there may be hundreds more to come.
Those charged include individuals allegedly involved in a riot during which an attempt was made to set fire to a hotel housing asylum seekers in Rotherham.
On Tuesday, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) confirmed that prisoners who had completed a sentence for a serious crime and were serving a consecutive sentence for a lesser offence would be allowed to leave prison earlier than planned.
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The admission comes after an investigation by Channel 4 News found that one prisoner who had completed a sentence for serious sexual offences and was serving a sentence for a lesser crime would be allowed to leave jail within weeks, rather than next year as planned.
Mahmood, who is also the justice secretary, was forced to launch the early release scheme in mid-July after it emerged that prisons were nearly full and the criminal justice system was on the brink of collapse.
Weeks later, riots fuelled by far-right activists took place across the UK after a mass stabbing in Southport in which three girls were killed.
By the end of August, there were reportedly only 100 places left in men’s prisons in England and Wales.
A spokesperson for the MoJ said: “The first job of this government is to keep people safe, and the new lord chancellor has taken action to make sure the justice system is able to lock up dangerous offenders, protect the public and reduce reoffending. This will always be the case.
“The government has been clear SDS40 is a temporary measure it was forced to introduce to prevent the imminent collapse of the criminal justice system.
“A 10-year strategy on prison supply will be published before the end of the year.”
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