Calls to release non-violent women instead of dangerous prisoners amid outrage that officer's killers could be eligible
Under the new Sentencing Act, set to come into force in September, some 6,000 criminals are set to be released under the early prison release scheme.
Ministers have been urged to free non-violent women from prisons instead of dangerous criminals, after it was revealed two of police officer Andrew Harper’s killers could be eligible for early release.
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Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers, who were passengers in the car which caused Pc Harper’s death, could be released after serving half of their 13-year sentences for manslaughter, rather than two-thirds.
This has been strongly criticised by the family of the constable, including his widow Lissie Harper who said it was “deplorable” and his mother Debbie Adlam, who said it is “another letdown” for her son.
Pc Harper was 28 years old when he sustained fatal injuries while responding to a quad bike theft in Sulhamstead, Berkshire, in August 2019.
The driver, Henry Long, received a 16-year sentence and will not be eligible for the scheme.
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Under the new Sentencing Act, set to come into force in September, some 6,000 criminals are set to be released under the early prison release scheme.
Ms Adlam said she had received a letter from the Ministry of Justice warning that Bowers and Cole could be set free early.
In the Lords on Thursday, Labour frontbencher Lord Katz insisted a “sophisticated response” to prison overcrowding is needed, as he was asked “what the hell do (the Government) think they’re doing?”
Prime Minister Andy Burnham has pledged to “review the whole of this policy” before it proceeds.
“I can’t say that I can change the policy completely, but I will look at it in detail before we go further forward,” he said this week.
Speaking in the upper chamber, Conservative former solicitor general Lord Garnier said: “There are 3,650 women in prison in England and Wales, and about 2,500 of those people – that’s to say, 70% of the women’s prison population – are in custody for non-violent offences.
“If the Government thinks it’s better to release violent criminals, child sex offenders, rather than that non-violent cohort of women in prison, and fails to take the opportunity to free up prison places there, by re-rolling those a woman’s prison into a prison for men, what the hell do they think they’re doing?”
In his response, Lord Katz said: “It is a complex progression scheme to ensure that we are able to create the capacity that we need in our prison system.”
“There aren’t a lot of easy options, but also there are more sophisticated responses to the kind of the very simplistic problem he posed,” he added.
Leading lawyer and independent crossbencher Lord Pannick said: “Can the minister explain why prison numbers cannot be adequately reduced by early release of those who are not subject to the most severe sentences? For example, those who are serving 10 years or less.”
Lord Katz did not respond directly to this question.
He said the Sentencing Act aims to “cut the cycle” of short sentences, adding: “We need to make sure that if people go to prison, they’re in there for long enough, and it does a proper job of rehabilitation.”
Shadow Home Office minister Lord Davies of Gower pressed ministers on whether they “do not consider those involved in the killing of police officers as among the most serious and heinous offenders”.
Lord Katz replied: “Certainly this Government, like the previous government, would consider the murder of police officers, anybody involved in protecting us, any of the emergency services, people who run to danger when we might we might run away from it, the most serious and heinous of offences.”