Andy Burnham’s prisons early release review to be conducted over ‘coming days and weeks’
Under the new Sentencing Act set to come into force in September, some 6,000 criminals were due to be released under the early prison release scheme
Andy Burnham’s review of the prisons early release scheme will be conducted in the “coming days and weeks”, a Labour minister has said.
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Under the new Sentencing Act set to come into force in September, some 6,000 criminals were due to be released under the early prison release scheme, but the Prime Minister on Thursday paused the plans and ordered an urgent review.
That came after the family of Pc Andrew Harper, who was killed in the line of duty in 2019, criticised the fact that two of his killers were being considered for early release.
Sally Jameson, a junior housing minister and former prison officer, gave an idea of a timeline for Mr Burnham’s review of the plans as she spoke to broadcasters on Friday morning.
The minister told Nick Ferrari at Breakfast: "What's been reviewed here is how it's been implemented and I think that's the right thing to do.
"It's the right thing that the government takes stock and makes the right decisions.
"So that's what's being looked at in the coming days and weeks.
"But I think the principle of reforming sentencing so that we both have the capacity in prisons, but also— and I think this is really important— is that part of the changes is that the second part of the sentence, which is in the community, will be heavily supervised."
Under changes in the Sentencing Act, some offenders were set to be let out of prison after serving a third of their sentence, rather than half, in a bid to ease prison overcrowding.
Some more serious offenders would have been eligible for release after serving half their sentence, rather than two-thirds.
Early release could have benefitted Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers, two of Pc Harper’s killers.
The police officer was 28-years-old when he sustained fatal injuries while responding to a quad bike theft in Sulhamstead, Berkshire, in August 2019.
The driver of the vehicle that caused Pc Harper’s death, Henry Long, received a 16-year sentence, and would not have been eligible for the scheme.
But Cole and Bowers, who were passengers in the car and handed 13 years in custody for manslaughter after a trial at the Old Bailey in 2020, could have become eligible for release after serving half of their sentences.
Lissie Harper, Pc Harper’s widow, described the scheme as “deplorable”.
Pc Harper’s mother Debbie Adlam later welcomed Mr Burnham’s move to pause early prison releases, but told ITV “it’s not enough”.
“It’s a good start, and it really is a good basis to begin working on some sensible alternatives and looking at options for going forward, because there’s so many people this affects, it’s not just us,” she added.