Prison service continues to operate hand to mouth ahead of early release scheme

Two things feel a long way off for the prison system right now: September and reform.

A new government early release scheme comes into effect on 10 September, meaning thousands of offenders will be released earlier than they would have previously, in order to free up space.

The automatic release point will be reduced from 50% of a sentence to 40%, meaning eligible offenders are released to serve the rest of their sentence on license. There are exclusions for domestic abuse perpetrators and serious violent criminals.

That date will be seen as breathing space relief for the government and for a prison system that is bursting.

It’s three weeks away but it feels further as the service continues to operate hand to mouth, trying to see off the prospect of daily overcrowding disasters, while jails across England and Wales edge closer to complete capacity levels in the wake of riot sentencing.

When Sky News asked Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood in July about risks to public safety – lurching from emergency measure to emergency measure while the probation service fears workload pressures and strains – she said “there is no risk-free option” and the government has been left with little choice based on what they inherited.

They need to get people out – and now.

The prison service likes to operate with a margin of around 1,400 free spaces. As of today Sky News understands there are just over 300 spaces left in the male estate. They consider themselves unable to operate with anything less than 300. These numbers illustrate the lack of manoeuvring margin and why action was taken today.

Operation Early Dawn is dubbed an “emergency” and “short-term” measure – but the on-and-off activation of these types of policies feels far more permanent than any minister would want to admit.

The government is faced with immediate pressures in prisons – overcrowding, staff shortages, high levels of violence and a thriving illegal drugs market.

Just today – two new reports from the Chief Inspector of Prisons Charlie Taylor reveal concerning findings. In HMP Durham – one of the most heavily populated jails – 86% of offenders were living in overcrowded conditions, with two people in cells designed for one.

And at HMP Nottingham the report found a prison under “constant pressure” to accommodate new arrivals, “high” levels of violence, and a “chaotic” early release scheme – with a “quarter” released homeless causing “inevitable recalls”.

This is why any meaningful reform the new government might want to make also feels a long way off.

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Government has ‘brought forward additional prison places,’ minister says

As the triggering of Early Dawn came into effect this morning – the government’s press release came with a statement from their new prisons minister Lord Timpson.

He gave penal reformers high hopes and is commonly known as the cobbler who employs ex-offenders as a means of reskilling and rehabilitating. He believes a third of those behind bars shouldn’t be there and instead should be out in the community.

But his statement today reminded people the government has “brought forward additional prison places” to deal with rioters. Ministers have been clear it’s their view that prison for those offenders is right – “swift justice”, they say, has acted as a deterrent to put the riots behind us.

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Ideology is giving way to immediacy

For Lord Timpson and reformers, the idea of just building thousands more prison spaces goes against what he thinks is the bigger picture answer – fewer people in prison with greater efforts channelled into rehabilitation.

But the reality is ideology is giving way to immediacy right now. And it could be that way for a while.

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