Latest news with #offenders
Telegraph
4 days ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Rioters and people smugglers to be moved to open prisons early
Serious offenders, including rioters and people smugglers, will be transferred early to open prisons to tackle the jail overcrowding crisis, governors have warned. The Prison Governors' Association (PGA) said it was 'concerned' by a rule change that will allow potentially dangerous criminals to be moved to open prisons up to three years before they are due to be released. It could mean criminals serving sentences of more than seven years will be transferred within two weeks of being jailed, the PGA said. Among the eligible prisoners are human traffickers bringing in migrants for forced labour, offenders convicted of rioting or violent disorder, criminals caught with guns, class A drug dealers, motorists who have caused serious injury by dangerous driving and fraudsters. The rule, known as TPRS36, which takes effect on Friday, introduces a 'presumption' that offenders who meet certain risk and offence criteria should be transferred to open prisons three years before their automatic scheduled release date. Governors will make the final decision on transfers, but the PGA said they would only have limited discretion, in exceptional circumstances, to reject moves to open prisons While closed category A to C prisons remain overcrowded, there is space within category D open prisons. However, open prisons have minimal security with no physical barriers such as high walls, fences and secure gates and less supervision by officers to stop offenders from simply walking out. Accommodation is more akin to student digs, with eligible inmates allowed to spend most of their day away from the prison on licence to work, attend education or participate in other resettlement programmes. Tom Wheatley, PGA president, said: 'Open prisons are not a suitable place to house men that have been very recently sentenced for serious offences without any risk assessment. 'To ask the governor to decide that such risk is 'wholly unacceptable', given eligibility after just 14 days, is too short a time to make any such assessment and therefore to protect the public. It is also not what victims of crime expect, nor what the courts intend. 'This is simply a scheme to manage the lack of suitable prison capacity and, having already released many low-risk offenders, it is becoming difficult to use the capacity in open prisons. If TPRS36 rules were not used, many of these men would remain in the closed prison estate safely behind walls and fences.' Eligible prisoners include those serving standard determinate sentences, where they are eligible for release 40 per cent of the way through their terms, no history of escape attempts, have served at least 14 days of their time and have a 'low or medium' risk of causing serious harm on release. Terrorists, sex offenders, violent offenders serving sentences of more than four years and stalkers are excluded. A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: 'We are building new prisons and are on track for 14,000 places by 2031 – the largest expansion since the Victorians. 'Our sentencing reforms will also force prisoners to earn their way to release or face longer in jail for bad behaviour, while ensuring the most dangerous offenders can be kept off the streets. 'Only certain thoroughly risk-assessed offenders are eligible for moves to open prison and anyone found breaching the rules can be immediately returned to a closed prison.' The move follows the introduction of an early release scheme where offenders are freed 40 per cent of the way through their sentence and changes so that violent criminals, burglars and robbers recalled to jail will serve just a month in prison. The early release schemes are designed to tide the MoJ through until the introduction of its sentencing reforms which will see prisoners who behave well released as little as a third of the way through their sentences and killers, rapists and other violent offenders eligible for release at the halfway point rather than two thirds.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Rearresting high-risk offenders sparks public safety debate
Two high-risk offenders released from federal prison were rearrested in Vancouver this week. As Chad Pawson reports, it's intensifying the debate over public safety and justice-system reform.
CBC
24-05-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Rearresting high-risk offenders sparks public safety debate
Two high-risk offenders released from federal prison were rearrested in Vancouver this week. As Chad Pawson reports, it's intensifying the debate over public safety and justice-system reform.
Daily Mail
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
From 'taking back our streets' to early release for killers and sex offenders - proof Labour have gone soft on justice
The sentencing review commissioned by Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood contains a raft of soft-justice measures designed to cut the number of criminals in our prisons. Killers and rapists will be freed earlier, under proposals already adopted 'in principle' by Labour. Criminals convicted of serious violence or sex offences should win their freedom after serving half their jail term, rather than at the current three-quarters point, the review said. The lower automatic release date would apply to offenders sentenced to more than four years, including those convicted of 'rape, manslaughter, soliciting murder, attempted murder and wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm'. Only those who are well behaved in prison would be eligible. The review made a separate recommendation which would have offered similar early release dates to the worst violent and sexual offenders, who are deemed 'dangerous' by the courts and handed a so-called 'extended determinate sentence'. But it is understood ministers are set to reject this. Less serious offenders released even earlier The review said most offenders should be released after serving just one third of their sentence if they demonstrate good behaviour. Under an early-release scheme introduced by Ms Mahmood in the autumn, most criminals are let out after serving 40 per cent of their sentence. But the review proposed an even steeper reduction. Releasing all categories of offenders early would save 4,100 prison places by 2028, it said. Although murder was outside the scope of the review, it said there should be further work to look at whether current punishments are appropriate. The Law Commission should 'look at the minimum tariffs custodial sentence lengths for sentencing for murder'. The review appeared to suggest that murder sentences would have to be lowered to bring them into line with its other recommendations. Maximum and minimum sentences In further recommendations that would lead to shorter jail terms, the review said maximum penalties for a range of offences – including serious drug crimes – should be reviewed. It said they were leading to 'unintended consequences' and appeared to suggest ten years should normally be a ceiling for such crimes. Officials said the sentences were 'out of kilter' with other punishments. Minimum sentences currently set out in the law for offences such as gun crimes and persistent burgling should also be looked at again, the review added, because they contribute to 'sentence inflation'. 'Chemical castration' for sex offenders In an attempt to divert attention from the controversial findings, Labour claimed it would look at introducing a compulsory 'chemical castration' scheme for sex offenders. A voluntary pilot scheme already offers sex offenders drugs, such as hormone supplements, to suppress libido, but Ms Mahmood told MPs: 'I am exploring whether mandating the approach is possible.' However, psychiatrists immediately rejected the idea. Don Grubin, emeritus professor of forensic psychiatry at Newcastle University, told BBC Radio Four's World at One: 'If you're talking about mandatory prescribing, there'd be a lot of resistance from doctors because you'd be asking them to prescribe not to patients but to reduce risk for society. 'So they become, in fact, agents of social control, which is something that we've always resisted.' Use of chemical castration was discussed in the sentencing review, but not as a compulsory scheme. It said officials should draw up an 'evidence base' on the effectiveness of the treatment, and roll it out more widely on a voluntary basis. Scrap sentences of less than 12 months In one of its most wide-ranging recommendations, the report said jail sentences of less than 12 months should be imposed only in 'exceptional circumstances'. It means a large proportion of burglars and shoplifters, for example – who currently receive jail terms of a few months – will no longer end up behind bars. This would free up 2,000 prison places at any one time. The review also made a series of recommendations which it claimed would make community sentences a 'robust alternative to custody'. For example, courts should be able to ban criminals from driving even if their offence is not motoring-related, and there should be much wider use of electronic tagging. Send more criminals to open jails Many prisoners – even those serving a long stretch – should be allowed to serve a greater portion of their sentence in an open jail, the review said. 'Category D' prisons – which have much lower security and are often dubbed 'holiday camps' – are much cheaper to run, at an average £42,000 a year per place compared with £58,000 for a secure jail. The review called for 'greater use of the open estate for suitable offenders on longer sentences who could be safely managed in open conditions for a larger portion of their sentence'. Increase use of suspended sentences Currently, offenders who would normally be sent to jail can be let off with a suspended sentence. If they abide by licence conditions in the community, they will not end up behind bars. The review said suspended sentences provided criminals 'with an opportunity to desist from crime'. The maximum length should be increased from two years to three, making it more likely that judges will hand them down, the report said. This proposal would save an estimated 1,300 prison places. Don't recall as many prisoners to jail Fewer ex-prisoners should be recalled to jail for breaching the terms of their release, it recommended. The criteria for recall to jail should be tightened, so it takes place only when there is 'specific and imminent risk' or there is 'consistent non-compliance with licence conditions' by the offender. There should also be a fixed recall period of 56 days for most offenders. This move would create 2,300 spaces in the jails, the report said. Foreign offenders should be deported immediately if they receive sentences of less than three years, the review said. Those handed more than three years should be deported after serving 30 per cent of their sentence, rather than the current 50 per cent, it added. Combined with the effects of the existing early-release scheme it means they would serve just 12 per cent of their sentence. There are currently 10,800 foreign nationals in jail in England and Wales.
The Guardian
22-05-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Justice secretary considering mandatory chemical castration for some sex offenders
Shabana Mahmood told MPs she would expand a pilot scheme using medication to manage 'problematic sexual arousal' in offenders across 20 prisons in two regions. She said she was exploring making the approach mandatory for the most serious sex offenders. In response to a question, she said that studies had found chemical castration could lead to a 60% reduction in offending
