Early release prison scheme could increase police workload, Government admits
Police could face extra work re-arresting criminals under a new scheme to release offenders early from prison, the Government has admitted.
An internal Ministry of Justice (MoJ) document assessing the impact of the policy, revealed on the eve of Rachel Reeves's spending review, also warned it risked leaving victims feeling there had been 'insufficient punishment' of offenders.
Under the emergency measures to tackle the prison overcrowding crisis, violent criminals, burglars and robbers recalled to jail will serve just 28 days behind bars.
The early re-release scheme will apply to most prisoners originally jailed for between one and four years, even if they were recalled after committing another crime.
The document read: 'Should some of the cohort of releases be re-recalled, it could lead to more work for the police service (for arrest and return to custody).'
The Home Office is facing some of the biggest cuts in the Chancellor's spending review on Wednesday.
While police are expected to receive above-inflation increases in their budgets over the next three years, chiefs have warned that the money will not cover a £1.3 billion funding black hole.
Sir Mark Rowley, the Met Police Commissioner, previously warned that fewer criminals serving prison time would ' generate a lot of work for police ' and a 'proportion' of those released early would go on to commit another crime.
He also accused ministers of having done 'no analysis whatsoever' of the impact on forces of such policies. Sir Mark further claimed that electronically tagging criminals would not stop them from reoffending.
Measures to prevent 'breakdown of law and order'
The MoJ admitted in the document that officials could not 'monetise the costs' of the extra time that police officers would face catching and arresting freed prisoners who re-offended.
But it added: 'They are expected to be significantly outweighed by the benefits to the police of avoiding a breakdown of law and disorder.'
Official projections have previously estimated that, without action, prisons could run out of space by November. The MoJ analysis warned this would mean 'court trials can no longer go ahead, and planned arrests are cancelled.'
It added: 'This will threaten a breakdown of law and order, which is expected to result in increased crime, as those with a propensity to commit offences are not deterred from doing so, with no risk of apprehension and subsequent conviction.
'Significant public protection risks would arise from insufficient prison places for the most serious offenders.'
But officials also admitted there could be a backlash to the recall measures, warning: 'It is possible that the victims of offenders released from recall may consider a shorter recall term to be an insufficient punishment for breaking licence conditions.'
The MoJ document suggested that the 28-day recall scheme would free up 1,400 prison spaces, which ministers hope will see the Government through to the introduction of an overhaul of sentencing.
Under the plans, prisoners will be released as little as a third of the way through their sentences for good behaviour and engaging with rehabilitation schemes.
Killers and rapists will be freed halfway through their sentences, rather than two-thirds, if they behave well in jail.
Last month, Baroness Newlove, the Victims' Commissioner, warned that freeing prisoners early who had already been shown to pose a risk to the public by reoffending would place 'victims and the wider public at an unnecessary risk of harm'.
At present, criminals recalled to prison are only re-released after their case has been considered by the Parole Board, which decides if they can be safely freed to serve the rest of their sentence in the community.
Last year, the number of recalled prisoners in jail at any one time increased by 10 per cent to 13,583, more than double the 6,000 seven years ago. It represented around one in seven prisoners being held in England and Wales.
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