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Courtesy of the Times.
more prisoners are to be released early under a government drive to relieve pressure on overcrowded and drug-ridden jails, The Times has learnt. The Ministry of Justice has acted to significantly increase the number of inmates in an early release scheme after discovering that tens of thousands of eligible offenders — including those serving sentences for violence, robbery, burglary and public order crimes — were missing out. Governors have been ordered to review cases of prisoners refused release under the home detention curfew (HDC) scheme, which allows them to return home with an electronic tag and curfew, according to a paper quietly released by the MoJ last month. The order is intended to lead to the release on HDC of most eligible offenders. It comes after officials found that in 2016 some 9,041 eligible inmates, or 21 per cent, were released under HDC while more than 35,000 missed out.
prison population stands at 86,700, up from 44,246 in 1993. Jails are facing record levels of violence and drug problems have risen amid concerns that staff cannot cope with overcrowding. One prison source said the latest initiative amounted to an emergency measure, adding: “This is all about jails being full every single night. It is not conducive to stability for prisons to be in this state.” In recent years, justice secretaries have expressed a wish to cut prison numbers but only through fewer people being sent to jail. Michael Gove said in 2015 that he hoped numbers would fall over time. After he left office, he called for sentencing reform as too many offenders were going to jail for too long.
The new drive to release more prisoners early was introduced days before David Gauke took over as justice secretary from David Lidington last month. Under HDC, introduced in 1999 to deal with overcrowding, prisoners serving sentences of between three months and four years could qualify for early release. Prisoners are released between two weeks and 120 days early depending on their sentence length and after being risk-assessed. They are tagged and a curfew requires them to be at home between 7pm and 7am.
A streamlined application process was introduced last month, with the number of forms to be filled in halved. Past processes had become “overly bureaucratic” and tended to frustrate the objects of HDC resulting in only a minority being released, official guidance says. Other desired outcomes, according to the paper, are that “release on HDC is the norm for eligible offenders, so that most can benefit from . . . extra stability . . . and HDC is refused for eligible offenders by exception”. A unit has been created in the MoJ to push ahead with the plan, including a clearing house to deal with checks on the addresses to which prisoners are being released. In the last quarter of 2016, 15,469 prisoners were eligible for HDC but 2,329 were let out under the scheme. One reason for the low take-up is that prison governors have been wary, focusing on hard-working, well-behaved inmates. They worry that if a released prisoner reoffends, they will not receive political support from government ministers. In 2014, 842 people released on HDC were recalled to prison for breaking their licence.
The MoJ said that the qualifying criteria for HDC had not changed, though a prison source said the message coming through clearly was that more people must be released early. No one serving a sentence of four years or more for any offence is eligible, nor are sex offenders who are required to register or offenders given an extended sentence for a violent or sexual offence. Those convicted of murder, explosives offences, possession of an offensive weapon, possession of firearms with intent, cruelty to children, hate crimes and terrorism are also not eligible for release under the HDC scheme.
Last night Frances Crook, chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said that while it was good to release people to the community on a tag, “this looks like a panic measure because prisons are in such dire straits”. “Ministers must give prison governors the political cover if things go wrong with a prisoner, as they will because humans are complex and make mistakes,” she added. Philip Hollobone, Tory MP for Kettering, said: “The public does not like prisoners being released early from their sentence. The public wants criminals to serve the sentence in full in jail. The further we get away from that, the less sentences are a fitting punishment for the crime that has been committed.”
The MoJ said: “We are not expanding the scheme to allow the release of any prisoner who was not already eligible and could be released on HDC. We are simplifying the HDC process, reducing the number of forms used in the assessment process and maintaining the strict eligibility and suitability tests. This will mean governors can make well-informed, more timely decisions and ensure robust risk management plans are in place for offenders released under the scheme.