Prison early release scheme could leave survivors feeling 'irrelevant', child sexual abuse campaigner says
Her petition, Oppose the Early Release Scheme, had secured almost 89,000 signatures as she spoke to Nick Ferrari on LBC
Child sexual abuse survivor Jade Belgrove has waived her anonymity and launched a petition calling for rapists and other violent sexual offenders to be excluded from prison early release schemes.
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Her petition, Oppose the Early Release Scheme, had secured almost 89,000 signatures as she spoke to Nick Ferrari on LBC.
Ms Belgrove said she welcomed the decision to pause the scheme while it is reviewed, but said the review must lead to a ban on releasing violent offenders early.
She said: “Violent criminals should not be allowed out. Rapists, paedophiles, they should not be allowed out.”
Ms Belgrove said releasing offenders early can leave survivors feeling “irrelevant”, adding that victims should be “put at the heart of things”.
She said the review must ensure violent offenders are not released “a day before we were promised in a court of law”.
This comes as prison bosses are facing chaos after new Prime Minister Andy Burnham told LBC he would review a controversial early release scheme.
Read More: Early prisoner releases are Starmer’s mistake. Burnham must not make them his own
Mr Burnham has said he would review the scheme instituted to ease overcrowding in UK jails after the widow of police officer Andrew Harper has said it is “deplorable” that two of his killers are being considered for early release.
Jails had been expecting thousands to become eligible for early release in the coming months before Mr Burnham said he would review the scheme.
Sally Jameson, the Parliamentary Secretary in the Cabinet Office told LBC: "It's the right thing that the government takes stock and makes the right decisions.
She also reassured the scheme would "be heavily supervised".
"We've invested huge amounts of money in probation accommodation, offenders will be tagged, and actually victims have an input on licence conditions as well," she said.
Lissie Harper, PC Harper’s widow, said it was “deplorable that we have reached a point where releasing prisoners early is even considered acceptable”.
The Prime Minister said he was making no guarantees but wanted to look at the details of the early release scheme, which was due to come into effect on September 2.
Speaking on a visit to Bath, Burnham said: “I will review the whole of this policy. We did not invest in the prison estate when we should as a country, going back a decade or so ago when it was clear that there was going to be pressure. That has created an unacceptable situation now.
A deputy prison governor told The Times: “We’ve been told to put planning on hold until it’s clear what the new ministerial teams’ intentions are.”
Another source said: “It’s caused bedlam.”
The Sentencing Act 2026 introduces an “earned progression model” that replaces automatic halfway release for prisoners serving standard determinate sentences in England and Wales with a tiered, behaviour-based system.
It will allow most of them to be released. The driver of the vehicle which caused Pc Harper’s death, Henry Long, received a 16-year sentence, and will not be eligible for the scheme.
But the Constable’s mother said she had been told that early release could be on the cards for Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers, who were passengers in the car and handed 13 years in custody for manslaughter after a trial at the Old Bailey in 2020.