Fixing prison places crisis will take a decade, says Justice Secretary - as he insists leaving prison 'does not mean freedom'

Speaking to Nick Ferrari at Breakfast, Mr Norris insisted that offenders leaving prison under the Early Release Scheme will not have full freedom on the outside - as the Government continues to look for ways to free up spaces.

It comes as the Government prepares to speed up the building of hundreds of extra prison places with £110 million of investment.

Mr Norris told Nick: “We've got a long way to go yet. This is buying us time and breathing space to build this. 

“The Prime Minister has been very clear that he wants 10-year solutions. I'm working on a goal that gets us to sustainable prison capacity 10 years into the future. I wish predecessors 10 years had done that ago, frankly.

"They haven't, but we're going to.”

Read more: Government to fast-track hundreds of prison places with £110m investment in bid to tackle overcrowding

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Plans to free up more spaces include converting prison laundry rooms.

Mr Norris said: "We're going to use creatively across the prison estate, whether it's office space or laundry space There's lots and lots of sort of empty space. It is functional, but we're finding that balance between, you know, those day-to-day functions and the need to have enough places to convert them where we can into usable cell space.

"I wouldn't want to go laundry room by laundry room around the prison estate, but there are creative ways we can use in terms of using other parts of the prison as well."

It comes after the government announced that people convicted of manslaughter, death by drunk or dangerous driving, rape, grooming and historic child sexual offences will now be exempt from the Early Release Scheme.

But many domestic abusers will still qualify under the new rules, which means they will start to be let out from 1 October 2026.

LBC has heard from victims of domestic abuse who say the Early Release Scheme will put lives at risk, including Victoria Lamberth, whose ex-husband was jailed after subjecting her to abuse.

Mr Norris said: “We would have wanted to go further, but if we hadn't made these changes, we would be running out of prison places in November. So what I say to her and anybody else… in a similar position, [is] that we will be contacting them with with details about what's happening to their perpetrator.

“They then will have direct contact with a victim liaison officer who will be asking them about how they live their life, because their perpetrator leaving prison - that release does not mean freedom."

Mr Norris told Nick that perpetrators leaving prison are now and can be subject to the "widest range of tools we've ever had in probation."

That includes world-first restriction zones, tagging, and bans from football and driving.

“For too long, for always in this country, victims have had to live around the conditions, the licence conditions on their perpetrators. We want to flip that," Mr Norris said.

He added the Government will be asking victims how they live their life so that they can design the controls on her perpetrator to keep them safe and to let them "live a full life.”

Last month, the Government announced that violent and sexual offenders released from prison could be confined to zones of just a few miles under new restrictions.

It means victims will have a say in setting the boundaries to limit the possibility of unexpectedly encountering their offender.

The zones will be set to make sure those released can still access vital appointments and services that help to reduce their chances of reoffending.