Sex offenders and other violent criminals will be released from prison under the Government’s early release scheme, probation service whistleblowers warned yesterday.
Sources claimed a ‘loophole’ in the Labour policy meant serious sexual offenders could be allowed to walk free, despite Government assurances that such crimes would be excluded from the scheme.
Channel 4 News said they included a convicted sex offender and a stalker now due for release under the ‘SDS40’ scheme, which is due to start next week as ministers attempt to tackle prison overcrowding.
Probation service whistleblowers told the programme that prisoners serving consecutive sentences for more than one offence were being considered for early release based on an end date from a sentence for a less serious offence.
It raises serious concerns over public protection, as their early release also means the probation service and other agencies have less time to plan for their return to the community.
Sex offenders and other violent criminals will be released from prison under the Government’s early release scheme, probation service whistleblowers warned yesterday. Pictured: HMP Wandsworth
Sources claimed a ‘loophole’ in the Labour policy meant serious sexual offenders could be allowed to walk free, despite Government assurances that such crimes would be excluded from the scheme. Pictured: A gate at HMP Wandsworth prison
The early release of such offenders would also come as a devastating blow to their victims.
Channel 4 News reported it had learned of a prisoner now set to be released four months early after serving a long sentence for serious sexual offences.
He qualifies for SDS40 because he has served the sentences imposed for the sexual offences and his shorter sentence for a less serious offence is eligible under the scheme.
It means he can leave prison within weeks, although his victims had expected he would remain in prison until next year.
A Probation Service whistleblower told the programme: ‘It’s a definite loophole to me. It doesn’t fit with justice. It certainly doesn’t fit with victims’ rights.’
Another frontline probation worker said they were working on the case of a ‘high-risk male’ convicted of stalking, an offence excluded from early release.
But a separate conviction for a driving offence meant he was now eligible for early release, they said, adding: ‘This appears to make a mockery of what the Government said but also of risk issues.’
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said the new Government ‘has been forced to introduce an early release programme to stop a crisis that would have overwhelmed the criminal justice system’
The probation union NAPO has warned the service is already over-stretched, and Channel 4 said Freedom of Information Act data showed the average probation officer now had the equivalent of six days’ work to complete in a five-day working week.
The prison population in England and Wales hit a record high this year, with some 88,350 people in jail at the end of August – the highest number ever recorded.
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: ‘The new Government inherited a justice system in crisis, with prisons on the point of collapse. It has been forced to introduce an early release programme to stop a crisis that would have overwhelmed the criminal justice system, meaning we would no longer be able to lock up dangerous criminals and protect the public.
‘The new Lord Chancellor announced in July that she was scrapping the previous Government’s early release scheme, replacing it with a system which gives probation staff more time to prepare for a prisoner’s release.
‘The Government has also set out plans to recruit over 1,000 new trainee probation officers by March 2025 to meet additional demand.’