MORE than 1,700 prisoners have been released early across England and Wales as part of a government initiative to free up space in prisons.
Due to concerns that overcrowding had pushed prisons to the "point of collapse", the government announced plans in July to temporarily cut the proportion of sentences that must be served from 50 percent to 40 percent.
With the recent influx of prisoners from the nationwide riots and disorder adding to the problem, the prisoner release scheme began on Tuesday, September 10.
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The government said offenders jailed for violent offences with sentences of at least four years, sex offenders and domestic abusers were not eligible for early release.
However, the move has proven controversial as it has allowed convicted killers and abusers out into the community before their full sentence has been served.
Further concerns have been raised about the risk of reoffending from these prisoners.
At HMP Hindley, the Prison Officer's Association confirmed that 28 prisoners have been released early as part of the scheme. The Ministry of Justice could not confirm the category of those prisoners released.
As reported by the Journal earlier this year, a report into Hindley prison found the environment was dominated by a “tsunami” of drugs, violence, and failing infrastructure.
Hundreds more prisoners are due to be freed early next month in the second stage of the scheme, while Ministers are under pressure to find longer-term solutions to the problem of overcrowded prisons.
Speaking on BBC Radio Manchester about the controversy, mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham blamed the previous government for the ‘emergency decision’ and the state of prisons.
Mr Burnham said: “I feel it’s an indictment on the last government because that’s the reality they left. And it’s shocking, isn’t it? This shouldn’t happen, it shouldn’t be that people are released in this way but that’s just the state of the system that the last government left behind.
"“When I was in government with Gordon Brown, there was a plan to build prisons that they scrapped. These things have consequences.
“Here in Greater Manchester we have a chief constable who’s taking a tough approach to crime, arresting more people, charging more people, bringing more people to justice.
"If you don’t have a prison system and a criminal justice system that can support the kind of approach to policing and crime that the public want to see, then it all falls down.
“People can point the finger squarely at the door of Sunak, Truss, May, Cameron and Johnson.”
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