Labour does not rule out continuing early prison releases
Lack of prison spaces 'not a money problem', says Labour
- Published
Labour's shadow justice secretary has declined to rule out continuing a scheme that allows some prisoners to be freed early to deal with overcrowding.
Shabana Mahmood said it would be "irresponsible" to make a decision on the future of the scheme without seeing figures on how many offenders had been released.
Under a policy introduced last October, some less serious offenders could be released up to 18 days early, with this extended to 70 days in May.
The Conservatives said they were overseeing "the largest expansion of the prison estate since the Victorian era".
- Published14 May
- Published8 May
The prison population has ballooned in recent decades as a result of tougher sentences and court backlogs.
Labour says overcrowding has meant fewer criminals are being arrested, court hearings being delayed and criminals are being released from prison early.
The government has insisted only "lower-level offenders" can be released early and they are subject to strict supervision and conditions such as tagging and curfews.
It says anyone convicted of a sexual, terrorist or serious violent offence is exempt from early release.
However, Labour has pointed to evidence in a report from the chief inspector of prisons, which gave examples of some violent criminals being released early without a proper assessment of the risk they pose.
Asked if a Labour government would continue the scheme, Ms Mahmood told the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme: "It’s a dereliction of duty that the government hasn’t actually released all of the figures about their early release scheme, they’ve actually been doing that in secret.
"It would be irresponsible for me from opposition, without seeing the data about the number of offenders that are being released, or having all of that information to hand, to make those decisions now."
Pressed over whether she would rule out continuing the scheme, she said: "I can’t rule anything in or out, because it would be completely irresponsible from opposition, without all of the information to hand, to make a decision about what we may or may not continue."
At a campaign event in Essex, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said: "I am critical of the Tories' early release scheme because what's happened is that they're releasing early, prisoners who should still be in prison and that's a shocking state of affairs.
"Like the many problems that they [the Conservatives] have left for the country, if we do come into power we're going to have to fix it," he said.
"Now that will involve building prisons, that will involve taking tough decisions because the money has been allocated for prison building but there are tough decisions about planning and getting those prisons up."
To help deal with overcrowding, Labour has also said it would build more prisons in England by allowing ministers to bypass the traditional planning process, if it wins the general election.
Under its plans, prisons would be designated sites of "national importance" on public safety grounds - placing the power to green-light planning applications solely in ministers' hands.
The party said the policy would help it create the 20,000 prison places the Conservative Party has promised by the mid-2020s but not yet delivered.
Asked how Labour would address prison overcrowding without tax rises, Ms Mahmood said this was "not a money problem" as funding had already been allocated for new prison places but they had not been delivered.
She said this was "a failure of the government" because they had allowed the planning system and complaints from Tory MPs to get in the way of building prisons.
As of April this year, the Ministry of Justice said it had only delivered roughly 5,400 additional places., external
Labour said its proposals would help create the remaining prison places - roughly 14,000 - to reach the Conservatives' original target.
A spokesperson for the Conservative Party hit back at the plans, saying the last Labour government "let 80,000 criminals out early and failed to build the prisons they promised".
The spokesperson added that the Tories were delivering 13,000 new prison places.
A Liberal Democrat spokesperson said: "The Conservatives have turned a blind eye to the crisis they've created in our prisons.
"Court backlogs remain sky-high and prisons are dangerously close to exceeding capacity. Liberal Democrats would take action to end prison overcrowding and stop the vicious cycle of reoffending.”