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The Guardian
6 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Justice secretary hits back at police in row over early prison release scheme
The justice secretary, Shabana Mahmood, has hit back at the UK's most senior police officer in a row over the impact of allowing thousands of criminals to serve their sentences in the community instead of being sent to jail. The Ministry of Justice insisted on Wednesday that officials 'consulted with police' including the Metropolitan police commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, over proposed changes to sentencing policies introduced to ease prison overcrowding. Hours earlier, Rowley had said that the scheme to free thousands of offenders early would 'generate a lot of work for police' and claimed that the decision had been made 'without any analysis of the impact on policing whatsoever'. The clash came as public servants lobby the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, in the expectation of budget cuts from the spending review on 11 June. Mahmood has insisted that she must take drastic action to cut prison overcrowding or risk the collapse of the criminal justice system. Recommendations from David Gauke's sentencing review, which proposed less jail time for thousands of offenders including some violent criminals and domestic abusers, were accepted in principle by Mahmood last week. These recommendations will allow prisoners in England and Wales to be eligible for release after serving a third of their sentence, drop short custodial sentences for nearly all offenders and allow suspended sentences for up to three years. On Wednesday morning, Rowley told the BBC's Radio 4 Today Programme that the plans would 'generate a lot of work for police'. 'We've asked the Ministry of Justice for the data so that we can understand the exact detail of the types of offenders who will in the future be in communities, so we can work through what the consequence of that are.' Rowley said the decision would further stretch the resources of police forces still struggling to recover from financial cuts. 'We're carrying the scar tissue of years of austerity cuts, and forces are much smaller when you compare the population they're policing than they were a decade or 15 years ago,' he said. Responding to Rowley, a government source said that police, including Rowley himself, had been consulted by both officials and politicians in the months leading up to the publication of the review. Rowley met Mahmood last week before the sentencing review was published, it is understood. 'The department and David Gauke consulted with police. The justice secretary accepted the recommendations 'in principle', but always said that further detail would come forward with the bill. The impact assessment will be published when the bill comes before parliament,' the source said. Officials from the Ministry of Justice are currently drawing up legislation based on the principles which were passed in principle before parliament. They hope that a bill could be put forward before summer recess. Sign up to Headlines UK Get the day's headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning after newsletter promotion Police remain concerned that the principles have been drawn up before the impacts upon policing have been taken into account. A police source said: 'More criminals in the community will result in more work for police officers. After a decade of keeping things on an even keel, the cash reserves have been eaten through.' Rowley also joined the head of MI5 and the National Crime Agency in writing to the justice ministry to predict that plans to release prisoners early could be to the 'net detriment to public safety'. The letter, sent before the sentencing review was published, argued police would need the 'necessary resources' in the next spending review to deal with the plan's impact and maintain order. 'We have to ensure that out of court does not mean out of justice, and that out of prison does not mean out of control,' they said. Rowley also joined five other senior police officers to predict the government would miss its key crime targets without extra resources for policing. They predicted the next spending round could jeopardise Keir Starmer's promise to halve knife crime and violence against women and girls, and to appoint 13,000 additional frontline officers.
The Guardian
27-05-2025
- General
- The Guardian
The Guardian view on young offenders: amid rising violence, they need support to change
The recent deterioration of conditions for young offenders has been overshadowed by the wider crisis engulfing prisons in England and Wales. But the accounts given to the Guardian by three mothers of sons who are currently in HMP Swinfen Hall, in Staffordshire, offer a disturbing insight into the exceptionally high levels of violence that have become normalised. Their descriptions of 'constant fear', casual knifings and 'drugs and knives everywhere' are chilling. Two of the women said that they agreed with the decision to jail their sons. But reading their testimony, which echoes the findings of a recent prison inspectorate survey, it is impossible to believe that any rehabilitative purpose is being served. The suggestion by one of the women that her son is becoming more violent rather than less due to the conditions rings alarmingly true, and is in line with the conclusion of David Gauke's independent review of sentencing that prisons are failing to reduce reoffending. Men's prisons are often dangerous places, with last month's attack on prison officers by Hashem Abedi at HMP Frankland just one example of the risks faced by staff as well as inmates. In parts of the youth justice estate – which holds those aged up to 21 in young offender institutions (YOIs), secure training centres and council-run secure children's homes – the problem is particularly acute. The state's special responsibility towards children, and the importance of providing second chances to those convicted when young, means this failing system requires an action plan of its own. Of the current youth custody population, 53% are minority ethnic and 63% have spent time in care. Ministers agreed in March that girls would no longer be held in YOIs, following another report. But as 97% of young people in jail are male, they are the bigger problem. Overcrowding is not an issue in youth prisons as it is in adult ones. But the lack of suitable educational provision for a group of young men who desperately need it, more than half of whom have special needs, is nothing short of tragic. So is the amount of time that many spend locked in their cells. Staff shortages are one reason why violence is so out of control that ministers recently agreed to the use of pepper spray in some circumstances. The rate of assaults on staff, which is 14 times higher than in men's prisons, can partly be explained by the fact that more than two-thirds of those in YOIs are there for violent offences. But it is clear from recent inspection reports that the number of 'keep-aparts', who are not allowed to mix due to the risk of fights, is unsustainable. The youth custody population is less than a quarter of what it was 15 years ago, so there has been progress as well as decline. Since the threshold for custody has been significantly raised, these institutions are bound to be challenging places. But Mr Gauke's review noted that young people's impressionable natures mean that they have both a higher rate of reoffending than adults and also higher potential to desist. As ministers plan their sentencing reforms, boys in custody must not be written off.
The Guardian
25-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
The Guardian view on sentencing reform: a landmark chance for change
The independent sentencing review for England and Wales under David Gauke is a landmark response to both an immediate crisis in the prisons and to an endemic criminal justice policy failure going back decades. It creates the platform for penal policy to take a much-needed new direction. As Mr Gauke says, this will take bravery from government. Encouragingly, the lord chancellor, Shabana Mahmood, has accepted most recommendations in principle, though with some exceptions. The need now, though, is for sustained action, investment and results. When the review was established in 2024, prisons for men had been at 99% of capacity for 18 months and a surge of further prison sentences was developing after the summer riots. Managed early-release measures eased some pressures, but demand for places is still projected to exceed supply by 9,500 in 2028. The inescapable truth is that the crisis has its roots in long traditions of excessive prison sentencing, sometimes politically and media driven, and of grossly inadequate investment in new prisons and non-custodial alternatives. Both of these things now have to change in radical and measurable ways. The Gauke review takes a wide-ranging approach. More prisons must certainly be part of the answer, but Ms Mahmood and Mr Gauke are right that Britain cannot build its way out of this crisis. That can only be ended by different sentencing policies, on which the review makes proposals on everything from the sentencing of serial violent offenders to the need for more deferred sentences for low-risk offenders with high needs, including pregnant women. The report's central proposal is to reduce prison numbers by 'earned progression' sentences with three phases – custody for at least one-third of the sentence, intensive non-custodial management (including tagging) and continuing lighter supervision in which the offender remains subject to recall. Most short prison sentences would also be abolished, a move that would help a lot of female prisoners. Suspended sentences should be used more. The review estimates its proposals would save nearly 10,000 male prison places. These proposals should be actively supported. However, they inevitably sharpen the need to invest in extensive high-quality non-custodial support. Released offenders will need to be properly supervised and, in far more cases than is possible in today's custody-heavy sentencing, managed back into useful non-criminal, non-drug-dependent lives. That means tagging, but it also means better-paid and properly valued and resourced probation officers. Probation services in Britain are under pressures at least as severe as those facing the prisons, with cuts in staff numbers, excessive caseloads and inadequate technology. They cannot play their part in this new approach without serious investment. The review rightly says that relationships between probation staff and offenders should get priority. Yet this will not be possible without training, educational, work experience and drug rehabilitation resources for custodial and non-custodial offenders alike. For this new start to have meaning and credibility, these needs must be fully reflected in the government's spending review next month. The Gauke review has a wider lesson for the UK state too. The review was commissioned amid the crisis last October. It has reported, at nearly 200 pages, and been adopted as policy in a mere seven months. It provides Ms Mahmood with a once-in-a-generation chance to introduce radical change. Compare that model of delivery and momentum with successive, often judge-led, inquiries that have taken not months but years to do their job, yet with no guarantee of any lasting change to follow.
Telegraph
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Labour will hand 40,000 criminals a get out of jail free card
Up to 43,000 criminals are set to avoid prison each year under Government plans to combat jail overcrowding, an analysis of official figures by The Telegraph reveals. The criminals, including burglars, shoplifters and knife offenders, will instead face community sentences under the plans to scrap most jail terms of under 12 months. The law change, recommended by an independent review headed by David Gauke, the former Tory justice secretary, will order courts to only jail offenders for less than a year in 'exceptional circumstances', including domestic abuse, stalking and breaching orders linked to violence against women and girls. The analysis also reveals that up to 1,500 killers, rapists and other serious sexual and violent offenders will be eligible for early release each year under the shake-up, which is designed to free up nearly 10,000 prison spaces. The criminals, whose offences include manslaughter, attempted murder, rape, wounding with intent to cause GBH and sexual assault, will be eligible for early release half way through their sentences of four or more years, rather than two thirds, if they behave well and engage with rehabilitation schemes. Up to a further 28,600 offenders on standard determinate sentences will be eligible for release as little as a third of the way through their sentences, depending on behaviour. The offences include violence against the person, sex offences, robbery, theft, drug possession, fraud and possession of weapons, for which the criminals would currently only be allowed out after serving 40 per cent of their sentence. If they fail to behave, they would face up to 50 per cent of their sentence in jail. Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, said: 'Sir Keir Starmer's decision is a gift to hardened criminals who will now be free to cause carnage on our streets. 'This is certain to cause a crime wave and the complete breakdown of law and order. The only people benefiting from this Labour Government are criminals and illegal migrants. 'Instead of offering huge sentence discounts to killers and rapists, Starmer should free up space in our prisons by deporting the 10,800 foreign offenders clogging up our jails. But he won't, as he's wedded to broken human rights laws and previously campaigned to keep foreign criminals in the UK.' He made the comments as police chiefs have demanded ministers exempt 'high-risk' violent and sexual offenders from their early prison release scheme to protect the public from 'out of control' criminals. They have also warned there will be a surge in reoffending by freed prisoners unless Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, provides the extra cash for probation officers to supervise the thousands more criminals set to be released early. The National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) has written to Shabana Mahmood, the Justice Secretary, warning that letting criminals 'out of prison' earlier must not mean the offenders are 'out of control'. The analysis, based on the number of offenders jailed last year, showed that up to nearly 11,000 shoplifters could avoid jail, as well as more than 3,000 convicted of assaulting emergency workers and a further 3,000 imprisoned for common assault and battery. It could also include as many as 2,300 burglars of non-domestic dwellings and nearly 400 house burglars. The figures also suggest 2,300 convicted of knife crime and more than 1,000 sent down for actual bodily harm assaults could escape jail. Chief Constable Sacha Hatchett, who leads on criminal justice for the NPCC, said there must be adequate funds in the forthcoming spending review to invest in probation officers and technology, to ensure freed criminals were effectively supervised in the community to reduce reoffending. 'It is crucial for public safety that high-risk offenders, including those convicted of violent or sexual offences, and those who pose a threat to national security, are exempt from early prison release,' she said. 'Robust prison sentences for these crimes must remain in place as a strong deterrent and means of keeping the public safe. It is also crucial that victims of domestic abuse are protected, and that perpetrators understand that there will be harsh consequences for breaching orders.' Ms Mahmood told MPs she had secured an extra £700 million for the probation service in the spending review, as well as deploying 'tens of thousands' more electronic tags to place high-risk offenders under effective 'house arrest' with curfews at night and during the day alongside tighter exclusions, which they must not leave.
The Independent
23-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Probation staff shortages threaten to derail plans to safely release prisoners early, ministers warned
Severe staff shortages mean the beleaguered probation service cannot safely monitor prisoners in the community under new plans to free up prison spaces, senior figures have warned. In a review ordered by Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood as the prison crisis boiled over during her first days in office, her Tory predecessor, David Gauke advised freeing many prisoners a third of the way into their sentence and telling judges to avoid jailing people for less than a year in favour of community sentences. While the plans have been widely welcomed, concerns have been raised over how the under-pressure probation service will cope with an influx of new offenders to manage. Ms Mahmood is expected to accept most of the proposals, but former justice secretary Sir Robert Buckland expressed concern that the plans could merely 'transfer a prison-based problem into the community'. And probation union Napo warned that there was now a 'vital window' to invest in staff and their wellbeing before the changes place 'massive, massive pressure' on a service already in 'chaos'. Hailing the report as 'the most important review of sentencing policy in at least a generation', Napo chief Ian Lawrence added: 'But the problem the government has right now is, if prisons are full, so is the probation service. 'And our capacity to process even more people released into the community is going to be put under massive, massive pressure ... without something being done to maintain the confidence of staff. That means paying people so they don't just leave, because people [have had] enough of the current workload situation.' The most recent official figures suggest a shortfall of nearly 1,500 probation officers below the recommended staffing level of 7,115. Mr Lawrence warned that this target may underestimate the true need. Ministers have vowed to recruit a further 1,300 officers by March 2026 and while the probation service grew by 610 staff in the year to March, more than 2,000 staff – nearly 10 per cent – left over the same period. Forty per cent of probation officers who quit left with at least 10 years of experience, analysis by The Independent found. Asked whether he believes the probation service has enough staff to safely enact the reforms, Mr Lawrence said: 'Certainly not now.' Warning that probation officers 'are dealing with scores and scores – hundreds – of recall offenders every week, which is just stretching people's capacity to cope to the wire', he said the number of staff forced to take sickness days was 'very worrying'. More than 273,000 days were lost to sickness in the year to March, nearly a third more than in 2022, official figures show. With many regions majorly understaffed for years, HM chief inspector Martin Jones warned last year that 30 out of the 31 local probation units inspected in 2022-23 were judged to be either 'inadequate' or 'requiring improvement'. An ailing probation service can have fatal consequences, with major failings identified in the murders of Zara Aleena and a Terri Harris and her three children in Killamarsh the previous year. The Independent reported in November that the number of ex-offenders charged with committing serious crimes while on probation had surged by a third to hit a record high of 770 over the previous year, for crimes including murder, rape and serious violence. While he largely praised Mr Gauke's review, Tory former justice secretary Sir Robert Buckland warned that, unless backed up with more resources from the Treasury, 'I'm worried that we're going to transfer a prison-based problem into the community. Sir Robert said: 'If this is not properly resourced, my worry is that there would be supervision failures, further offences and inevitably that will cause massive public concern and political pressure to change course.' 'The one thing we need now is a very stable policy environment, so that the probation service can actually be resourced to get on with, under this system, an increasing role.' Also broadly backing the measures and praising Mr Gauke's assessment 'that we just cannot carry on as we are without doing something radical', former justice committee chair Sir Bob Neill warned that the £700m announced to bolster the service on Thursday 'can't be a one-off'. He added: 'The case that you'd make to Rachel Reeves is 'this is a classic case of investing to save', because ultimately much more spending on probation is going to be less than both the capital and revenue costs of much more prison places.' With much of those funds expected to be spent on a major extension of tagging and monitoring capabilities, Sir Bob commended Mr Gauke's call to 'toughen up community punishments as an alternative to prison'. But warning that probation has 'been a bit of Cinderella [service] for too long', Sir Bob said: 'There needs to be a proper workforce strategy for the probation service, a push on recruitment, better training and a concerted effort to raise the status of probation work.'
